Couples in China express love with plastic surgery
Published 9:00 pm Monday, February 13, 2006
Nothing says “I love you” on Valentine’s Day like a box of candy and a bouquet of roses. Err, make that noses.
China’s obsession with plastic surgery is finding an outlet in couples who are going under the knife to get matching noses or eyes as a sign of their love for one another, the official newspaper China Daily reported.
“I suggested it as a way of celebrating our relationship and bringing us closer together with a special kind of bond,” Liu Yan, 24, was quoted as saying about the nose jobs she suggested to her 28-year-old boyfriend.
Liu said her boyfriend “loved the idea” and readily paid the $1,200 cost of surgery.
“We’re very happy with the results,” Liu said.
Some clinics advertise special Valentine’s Day packages. ConBio Plastic and Laser Surgery Hospital, a Chinese-U.S. joint venture, is offering a 20 percent discount from Feb. 14-17, said a manager at the clinic.
“You can also get some free roses,” he said.
New Zealand villagers give bra fence their support
Residents of the small New Zealand district of Cardrona have voted unanimously to retain the area’s “bra fence” – a farm fence out in the country with hundreds of discarded women’s brassieres tied to it.
The fence has attracted worldwide attention since it was started by four local women at Cardrona on South Island on New Year’s Day 2000 to mark the “liberation” of the new millennium.
Thousands of tourists now stop to photograph it each year.
A dispute over the future of the fence, with hundreds of bras tied to it, has been brewing for more than a year after a sole objector demanded it be removed.
American Andre Prassinos, who lives in nearby Wanaka township for part of the year, started his solo campaign against the fence last year, saying it was a “potential traffic hazard.”
Since he lodged a fresh complaint with the local council last week, Cardrona Valley ratepayers and residents have come out in unanimous support of the “iconic” bra fence, said association chairman John Scurr.
From Herald news services
