articles
China Elevator Stories
“Do People In Austria Have Their Eyes Made Bigger?”
I chat with Ling, who works at a massage parlour in Shenzhen.
31/10/2013
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
Ling looks closely at my eyes and asks: “Do people in Austria have their eyes made bigger? And do they like to use Botox and have plastic surgery? There are a lot of people in China who do that.”
I reply: “I’m not sure. I don’t think there are many people in Austria who have plastic surgery. At least none of the people I know do. Our eyes are big already, so we don’t usually need to make them bigger.”
She responds: “People in China often have eye surgery. Some want bigger eyes, and others want to have double eyelids instead of single eyelids. Europeans usually already have double eyelids, so you wouldn’t need surgery.”
She then points at my nose and says: “You have a really big nose. It’s pretty. Many people in China have surgery just to make their noses bigger.”
I tell her: “When I was younger, I always thought my nose was too big. I didn’t like it much.”
She replies: “So is that why you came to China, because people like your nose here?”
Have you ever had a conversation like this?