“Hospital transforms Asian woman into Italian-looking twenty-something"

When I landed an interview at the New Generation Cosmetic Surgery Hospital in Shanghai, I could hardly believe it. Rather, I could hardly believe them. This hospital was just in the news for offering to help a a woman look more like Jessica Alba to please her boyfriend, so I was a bit startled when the doctors accepted my invitation to meet with them. I expected a brief chat, maybe 10 minutes or so until the surgeons were swept back into the operating room.

My translator and I set out on our journey, and in the taxi she explained to me that, aside from this publicity, the hospital I was about to visit was one of the most famous hospitals in Shanghai. This did not help my nerves, but I was excited. I was in China, going to one of the most famous hospitals for my own interview with two of the most talked-about surgeons at the moment. This was cool.

The waiting rooms in China are not like the ones in America. Instead of stark, white walls and 5-month old magazines, the New Generation Cosmetic Surgery Hospital had restaurant-style booths where my translator and I could talk privately and even order drinks.

A young woman came over to get us, and two minutes later I was sitting in the office of Dr. Xu, who has been practicing cosmetic surgery for more than 20 years and is also the manager of the cosmetic surgery unit. I calmed myself down by thinking, “OK, you’ve done this a million times. You have your questions, all you have to do is ask them.” But what happened next, I definitely wasn’t prepared for.

It all started with a middle-aged man who came into the room and started recording me asking Dr. Xu my questions. Slowly, as Dr. Xu pulled out her “before and after” portfolio of procedures she has performed, other photographers trickled in and started taking pictures. The room filled up to the point where we were directed to leave the small office and move into a bigger one, which was clearly used for promotional purposes – as the back wall was filled with Chinese and American signatures from top to bottom.



I sat down in a chair across from Dr. Xu in hopes of continuing with my interview, but the photographers rushed me back up because it wasn’t a good angle for them. For the next five minutes, the doctors, translator and I were rearranged like a couple of kids playing musical chairs.

I began to get worried when the photographers were not only telling me to pose by pointing at the “before and after” portfolio and smile at the doctor, but they were now screaming at me to point at my own eyes and smile at the camera. I envisioned headlines in the next morning’s China Daily newspaper: “American goes to Shanghai for cosmetic procedure,” or “Hospital transforms Asian woman into Italian-looking twenty-something.”






I finally asked my translator what they were doing, and she told me that they were simply trying to point out the differences between Eastern and Western beauty. Did that really require me pointing at a “before and after” surgery book, I thought? Maybe they sensed my hesitation, because seconds later my translator also said the photographers thought I was a “good actress.”

Once we were done with my photo-op, I was told for about the fourth time that I could “continue my interview” after we did “one more thing.” In Katie Couric/Sarah Palin form, the doctors and I were filmed walking down the hall as I asked tough questions that they didn’t want to answer. Was the whole thing just a genius delay at answering my questions?

I learned at the end of the interview that the hospital was excited by the idea of an American journalist coming to their hospital. I came into the interview thinking they didn’t really want me there, and, turns out, it was the highlight of their day. Either way, faithful Bon Voyage blog readers, if you see New Generation Hospital billboards featuring my face on your next trip to Shanghai, you know what the real story is.