Travel becomes passport to a new look

Visitors inspect before-and-after virtual images of plastic surgery on a 3-D scan computer at an international plastic surgery expo held in Seoul in April. Provided to China Daily

Why go to Korea?

Kim said about 31,000 Chinese entered South Korea on medical-care tourism visas in 2012, of which 62.9 percent were traveling for plastic surgery. This compares with only 4,700 in 2009.

Liu Ming, 28, who works for a real estate company in Sanming, a city in Fujian province, underwent a double eyelid operation in South Korea in June.

"Although it's much more expensive than the price I was quoted by large plastic surgery institutes in China, I still thought the money was well spent," she said.

"The surgery was perfect and after two months' recovery my new, large eyes look natural, pretty and bright, totally changing the impression I had on others before, when friends often joked that even if I opened my eyes to their widest they still thought I was sleepy."

China's plastic surgery industry has developed quickly in recent years and the country has a considerable number of plastic surgery institutes that customers can choose from. However, many people still prefer to travel to South Korea.

Jason Liu, manager of the South Korean department of www.6mchina.com, who travels between China and South Korea almost every month, said the reasons for this are proven technology, better service, South Korea's position in world fashion circles and the fact that it is near China.

Liu also said the increasing influence of Korean popular culture, such as the TV series Dae Jang Geum, popular songs like Gangnam Style and a batch of well-known singers, actors and actresses are other factors attracting increasing numbers of Chinese. In some plastic surgery hospitals in Seoul, the South Korean capital, more than 80 percent of the customers are Chinese.

Liu said prices for plastic surgery in South Korea are a little higher than those in China. But with Chinese consumers' increasing wealth, this is not a problem, as people care more about the results of the surgery, and safety.

There are many plastic surgery institutes in China, but the industry started relatively late and is still in the initial stage, with a long way to go.