Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.
Leg Stretching Surgery Banned In China
This is weird.
My wife, (5″0″ tall and made in China) and an exchange student (4″11″ and made in Japan) who is staying with us were talking about this yesterday.
Girls in China head to Japan to have leg lenthening surgery because they don’t like being short.
Now, the girls have another reason to go to Japan. China has banned leg-stretching surgery for cosmetic reasons only.
The procedure involves breaking the patient’s legs (everybody say ouch!), then stretching them on a rack and putting pins in to make them legs longer.
After that, the girls pour money into the pockets of the surgeons and their clinics.
China now allows the procedure only in hospitals that do at least 400 orthopedic operations a year and offer post-surgery care and rehabilitation.
Surgeons must be licensed orthopedic specialists with at least 5 years experience (perhaps working for the Chinese mafia has a finger buster?)
The only apparently legitimate reason for such operations is when individuals have different limb lengths or a limb is damaged by injury, disease, tumor or infection.
And, breaking a limb on purpose is NOT damaging?
FWIW, and I fully admit to being partial. My petite wife is cute as a button. She just has a hard time finding clothes in American stores unless she visits the junior departments.
But, then, what the hey. Clothes are cheaper there.
What do you think?
I think it’s natural for Asians to be short and besides, being petite isn’t a big deal. Like you said, it’s cute being short and you can buy cheaper clothes.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. To one person it is “petite”, “cute”, and pretty…to another short is defective, inferior.
I read that Chinese companies have arbitrary height requirements for jobs. Is Chinese society better off eliminating people right off the bat based on such superficial things?
What about a tall person who happens to be in a wheelchair? Can they apply? But a 5-foot person can not?
Even if there is no such requirement, and “all things being equal” on a resume, many might think is ok then to chose a candidate based on size or appearance. But, all things are never equal. What about the candidate’s character? Will a room full of people all the same size (race, religion, etc.) automatically agree and work together perfectly?
I am not criticizing the Chinese culture. Unfortunately, we live in superficial world and I understand more than anyone why a person would want to go through such pain and suffering in order to alter their appearance to “fit in”, have more respect, or to have an opportunity otherwise closed to them.
I guess it doesn’t hit home until you or someone you love is discriminated against due to some unfortunate trait they inherited from their ancestors.
I just wonder what is the benefit to society overall if we do away with our diversity. Beauty trends come and go. People should not need to mutilate themselves to fit in better. Can’t we appreciate and see the beauty in being unique instead of seeing a defect that needs to be “fixed”?