Thanks to modernization and high technology, women now have a variety of choices to enhance their appearance. Apart from relying on fashionable clothes, skin-care products, make-up as well as various new-age diets, some are even willing to go to the most drastic extreme - cosmetic surgery.

China's first "Artificial Beauty", Hao Lulu, is the typical example. Obviously, the surgery has made a great difference to her, not only the change of appearance, but also her decision about a future career. According to an interview, she is hoping that her "new look" will lead to a career in films.

Hao's experience has also had huge impact on women infected with the same craze. Despite the high cost as well as a certain degree of medical risks, the number of women going under the knife to improve their looks is increasing.

However lately, society seems to be less tolerant. Many are voicing their disapproval and saying that cosmetic surgery indicates a level of vanity that is somehow unacceptable.

As adults, choosing to undergo cosmetic surgery is a matter of personal choice. To be honest, very few women are able to resist the temptation of becoming more beautiful, especially in this televisual age in which appearance seems everything.

But for those who put too much emphasis on their outward appearance and do nothing but queuing up to undergo nose, jawbone or breast jobs in the hope that they will would somehow enhance their lives, there might be a need to have second thoughts.

Let's start with a question - What makes a woman beautiful? There will be many different answers, but I suppose they will cover at least two aspects. One is outward appearance, and the other is inner beauty. As to the question of outward appearance, some may answer with a description of figure hair, eyes, lips, or take a popular movie star as an example. Presumably, they are the main reference of cosmetic surgery. But there is a problem about it. Just as the beauty of movie stars cannot last very long, the standards of outward beauty have never remained unchanging. In this sense, I am afraid that those who set too much hope in cosmetic surgery will engage in a permanent and losing battle. To put it more accurately, they are tightly bound to the chain of outward appearance, whose standards keep changing all the time.

With regard to the question of inner beauty, it is generally defined as confidence, kindness and knowledge. As a matter of fact, the main reason for women to choose cosmetic surgery is to become more confident. In other words, they are driven by a great hunger for acceptance.

Unfortunately, the confidence that comes from surgery never last long. Therefore, if outward appearance is the foundation of confidence and strength, that confidence is extremely easy to be broken and lost. Admittedly, whatever techniques or surgery we use to enhance our appearance, they can never deal with a crisis of the heart.

I believe that inner strength and confidence should be the source of beauty. And our beauty inside must be far more radiant than the models appearing on TV. Hence, instead of subjecting confidence to outward appearance, why don't we break the binding chain of outward appearance and make the foundation of our beauty into loving who we are?

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