Cosmetic surgery next industry on Chinese regulators' hit list?

BEIJING • For evidence of China's US$50 billion (S$67 billion) obsession with cosmetic surgery, look no further than a "little red book".

That is the English translation of Xiaohongshu, the beauty-focused e-commerce and social media app popular among young Chinese women on which the hashtag #PreAndPostOp has garnered more than 290,000 posts.

Many of them flaunt before-and-after photos of overhauled jawlines, plumper lips and reconstructed cheekbones. But since the start of July, the market value of the country's three biggest publicly traded medical aesthetics companies has fallen by a third, representing a collective loss of more than US$17 billion, despite the popularity of cosmetic procedures among the Chinese.

That shift in investor sentiment suggests the days of China's youth going under the knife in pursuit of facial perfection might be numbered, as President Xi Jinping tries to reshape the country's cultural and business landscape as part of a "common prosperity" drive.

Investment bank Citic estimated sales revenues in China's aesthetic medicine market were more than 330 billion yuan (S$68 billion) last year. But analysts warn that the industry could take a heavy blow if Beijing concludes that the sector's negative social influence is on a par with private tutoring and online gaming - industries where strict new regulations have incinerated the dominant groups' market values in recent months.

"It is perfectly possible we may see another industry disappear," said Mr Mark Tanner, managing director of China Skinny, a marketing company.

State media has stepped up criticism of the industry for promoting the idolisation of physical appearances and piling further misery on young people already self-conscious about their looks.

In a commentary published on Tuesday, the Communist Party's mouthpiece the People's Daily warned that cosmetic surgery industry advertising had "crossed the regulatory bottom line". The paper warned against ads featuring before-and-after photos of Chinese celebrities designed to "lure in consumers" and called for "standardised regulation of this lucrative new industry without delay".

Investor unease has mounted alongside health officials' concerns over the proliferation of illegal surgical procedures carried out by unlicensed clinics, which have drawn stern reproof from Beijing over "appearance anxiety" and "younger-age surgical clients".

"The market is right to be cautious here," said Mr Brock Silvers, chief investment officer at Kaiyuan Capital.

Mr Silvers said a disappointing recovery in consumer spending in China this year had helped hobble the stocks of cosmetic surgery companies, while the latest signals from Beijing "can't bode well for near-term growth prospects".

Officials have also expressed unease about trends in Chinese beauty standards. Pre-and post-op pictures on social media of men often show off delicate features that resemble idols from South Korea and, increasingly, China - a trend that state media has lambasted for supposedly undermining Chinese masculinity.

There are also signs of growing public awareness of body image sensitivities. Posts on social network Weibo with hashtags such as #DoYouHaveAppearanceAnxiety and #SayNoToAppearanceAnxiety have been viewed about 490 million times and drawn tens of thousands of responses.

Some Chinese netizens have welcomed an industry reckoning. "The education industry has been hit so hard," Weibo user Camry wrote in a recent post. "Please take more vigorous measures against the cosmetic surgery industry."

FINANCIAL TIMES

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 17, 2021, with the headline Cosmetic surgery next industry on Chinese regulators' hit list?. Subscribe