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Like a Tiger Mom with her neverending list of impossible-to-reach goals for her daughter, Yue-Sai Kan (靳羽西) is constantly looking over the shoulder of Miss Universe China, Luo Zilin (罗紫琳), making plans for every step she will make. For a year now, the celebrity, cosmetics entrepreneur and woman on a mission to produce a Miss Universe for China has been keeping her protege by her side, putting her up in her fancy New York apartment, teaching her how to mingle with socialites, and helping her widen her horizons to land that big crown. more ›

After the recent hair care scares related to Bawang Shampoo, more and more people are turning to homemade shampoo recipe - even after product quality officials debunked the original reports of excess carcinogens. more ›

We've all known for a while that plastic surgery has gotten extremely popular in China, but who knew this country'd rise that quickly in the ranks of the world's top regions for cosmetic procedures? In a recent survey issued by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, China ranked No. 2 for most nip-tucked, right behind the United States. According to ISAPS' Global Survey, the top five nations are the U.S., China, Brazil, India and Mexico. more ›

We guess with plastic surgery gaining popularity in the country, lawsuits from aesthetic hopefuls wouldn't be long coming. Now, according to China Daily, a Beijing woman has sued a beauty salon owner because the products she brought didn't make her look younger. Ms. Zheng had spent 200,000RMB on “Sinomos” cosmetic injections, which alleged that they could produce a youthful appearance that would make her look “20 years younger.” When it didn't work, she sued the company for double the price. more ›

Screenshot was taken from People's Daily online, in an article about a Guizhou tourism official who caught the attention of netizens for being so beautiful. From the picture, it seems that nationalistic fervor in China was a little more amorous than we thought. more ›

The plastic surgery industry, though a victim of the recession in the West, has experienced an unexpected and starting rise as the job market got worse in China. According to the LA Times: more ›

A Beijing clinic has apparently skipped all the controversy surrounding using stem cells and jumped right to marketing it as a way to rejuvenate your face. more ›

• 50 year old Shen Zhengjuan, director of the state-owned assets administration, or SASAC, jumped to her death from her apartment in Shanghai’s Huangpu District on the last day of 2008. Caijing Online speculates her suicide may have to do with the corruption scandal of former mayor Chen Liangyu. More here and here. (Update: The Huangpu District has issued a statement to state that Shen was not corrupt and was "a person of decency" and "an official who showed true conviction to her job.")
• Approximately 80% of college students in Shanghai are willing to lower salary expectations for their first jobs, with 2% saying they would even consider a job that paid a monthly salary of under RMB1,000.
• Intestinal washes are now becoming increasingly popular in Shanghai as a result of the all the recent food scandals. One hospital reports as many as 200 customers a month.

According to China Daily, more and more middle and high school students are taking advantage of the summer holidays to make the kind of changes that will impress their peers come fall. But it isn’t a summer class or even a new workout routine they are adopting — it’s cosmetic surgery. more ›

UPDATE: As we suspected, Miss Venezuela did win the contest. more ›

China's very first Miss World, Zhang Zilin (张梓琳) was crowned yesterday at the 57th edition of the beauty pageant in Sanya, Hainan. Miss Angola was first runner-up and Miss Mexico was second runner-up. This year's pageant coincided with World AIDS Day and was used by organisers to help raise awareness about the disease. Highlights of the show included a televised speech by former South African president Nelson Mandela, whose son Makgatho died of an AIDS-related... more ›