Seeking Online Stardom? First Buy a New Face

Young women go under the knife to get the ‘online-star face’: big eyes, long nose, high forehead and sharp chin

Chinese Online Celebrities Go Under The Knife for Success

Many young Chinese, especially women, who seek fame and fortune online, go under the knife. They believe that to become an online star, they first need to get an online-star face through plastic surgeries. Photo: Andrea Cavazzuti

Li Yuan

Updated April 13, 2017 7:43 a.m. ET

Deng Qian has had more than a dozen cosmetic surgeries, to slim her arms, enlarge her breasts and change almost every part of her face.

“Everything above my belly button is fake,” she says.

Above the neck, Ms. Deng’s aim was an “online-star face”—big eyes, long nose, high forehead and sharp chin, a look pursued by young women seeking online celebrity and the big income that can follow.

“Chinese society values a pretty face above anything else,” says the 24-year-old former business major. “If you’re not pretty, nobody will care about you, and nobody will follow you online.”

On live-streaming sites and on Weibo, China’s Twitter , Ms. Deng sings, discusses her life and gives makeup demos. In the ranks of Chinese online celebrities, she’s lower-tier—her Weibo followers number roughly 23,600—and desperate to climb higher. She went on China’s top dating show and top job-seeking show and starred in a documentary about plastic surgery.

In her world, plastic surgery is a necessity, an online-star face an investment in a better future.

Ms. Deng is trying to stand out among some six million live streamers, most of them women, appearing on more than 200 platforms in China, according to industry executives and research. They chat, sing and carry on, seeking viewer rewards of virtual gifts that can be changed into cash. Some report making tens of thousands of dollars a month.

The best get product endorsements. In a two-hour session last June, one online celebrity sold 20 million yuan in fashion products on the Taobao online marketplace.

One commentator known for her acerbic short videos won backing of nearly $2 million in venture funding last year.

Ms. Deng expects to earn about 600,000 yuan ($90,000) this year, mainly by marketing cosmetic-surgery procedures online. That is a steep improvement, she says, from the 6,000 yuan-a-month entry-level finance job she got after college.

“This face is worth 600,000 yuan,” Ms. Deng says.

Beauty procedures are an “efficient upward-mobility channel” for young women, says Liu Di, founder and chief executive of cosmetic-surgery social-networking app Gengmei. “For them, it’s a better investment than getting into a good school or a good company.”

On Gengmei (“prettier”), people interested in cosmetic surgery can share experiences, connect with clinics and get loans for procedures. Gengmei has 18 million users and counts internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. as an investor. Asked about the app’s popularity, Mr. Liu says Chinese are more judgmental about failure than about plastic surgery.

“We value success more than values,” he says.

China is the world’s third-largest market for cosmetic surgery, behind the U.S. and Brazil, according to China’s Association of Plastics and Aesthetics. How much of the spending is driven by social media is hard to quantify.

Beijing DJ Liu Shuang, before. PHOTO: LIU SHUANG

Ms. Liu after work that gave her the much-sought ‘online-star face.’ PHOTO: LIU SHUANG

Ms. Liu with her current ‘mixed-race face.’PHOTO: LIU SHUANG

What researchers call the “online-celebrity economy”—which includes e-commerce sales driven by personalities, virtual gifts and sponsorships—totaled 52.8 billion yuan ($7.66 billion) in 2016, research firm Analysys International estimates. That is bigger than China’s film box office.

Young women used to come in with photos of movie stars they wanted to look like, says Luan Jie, a 30-year veteran at the Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Science in Beijing. Now they show him photos of stream queens.

“Successful online stars have a big impact on the aesthetics of our society, especially on the younger generation,” says Dr. Luan. The online-star face, with its attention-getting features, is turning women into cartoon characters, he says, and many look the same.

Liu Shuang, a 20-year-old music DJ in Beijing who uses social media and live-streaming for promotion, blames the online-star face for her career struggles. Her solution: further surgery—a 12-hour procedure last month to give her what she calls “a mixed-race face.”

“Most girls get plastic surgery that makes them look Japanese or Korean. Mine is more exaggerated, so more differentiating,” she says. Ms. Liu got a discount for the procedure, which she says would ordinarily cost more than 300,000 yuan, by allowing the clinic to use her before-and-after photos.

As with other investments, returns aren’t guaranteed. Audiences are tiring of repetitive content and faces, industry people say. Audience numbers and revenue for live-streaming shows are falling this year, says Jason Yang, founder of Mars Digital Entertainment, an online talent agency with 2,000 clients, including both Ms. Deng and Ms. Liu.

Recent government actions to remove edgy content hasn’t helped. Ms. Liu, who often posts suggestive photos and videos, had her accounts deleted on two popular sites.

Her answer to these challenges: more plastic surgery.

As soon as she recovers from her mixed-race-face surgery, Ms. Liu plans operations to enlarge both her bottom and breasts.

“It is a very competitive industry,” she says. “If you’re not perfect, outstanding and beautiful, you won’t have a chance.”

Write to Li Yuan at li.yuan@wsj.com

Seeking Online Stardom? First Buy a New Face
Young women go under the knife to get the ‘online-star face’: big eyes, long nose, high forehead and sharp chin

Chinese Online Celebrities Go Under The Knife for Success
Many young Chinese, especially women, who seek fame and fortune online, go under the knife. They believe that to becomean online star, they first need to get an online-star face through plastic surgeries. Photo: Andrea Cavazzuti

By
Li Yuan
Updated April 13, 2017 7:43 a.m. ET
28 COMMENTS
Deng Qian has had more than a dozen cosmetic surgeries, to slim her arms, enlarge her breasts and change almost everypart of her face.
“Everything above my belly button is fake,” she says.
Above the neck, Ms. Deng’s aim was an “online-star face”—big eyes, long nose, high forehead and sharp chin, a look pursuedby young women seeking online celebrity and the big income that can follow.
“Chinese society values a pretty face above anything else,” says the 24-year-old former business major. “If you’re not pretty, nobody will care about you, and nobody will follow you online.”
On live-streaming sites and on Weibo, China’s Twitter , Ms. Deng sings, discusses her life and gives makeup demos. In theranks of Chinese online celebrities, she’s lower-tier—her Weibo followers number roughly 23,600—and desperate to climbhigher. She went on China’s top dating show and top job-seeking show and starred in a documentary about plastic surgery.
In her world, plastic surgery is a necessity, an online-star face an investment in a better future.
Ms. Deng is trying to stand out among some six million live streamers, most of them women, appearing on more than 200 platforms in China, according to industry executives and research. They chat, sing and carry on, seeking viewer rewards ofvirtual gifts that can be changed into cash. Some report making tens of thousands of dollars a month.
The best get product endorsements. In a two-hour session last June, one online celebrity sold 20 million yuan in fashionproducts on the Taobao online marketplace.
One commentator known for her acerbic short videos won backing of nearly $2 million in venture funding last year.
Ms. Deng expects to earn about 600,000 yuan ($90,000) this year, mainly by marketing cosmetic-surgery procedures online. That is a steep improvement, she says, from the 6,000 yuan-a-month entry-level finance job she got after college.
“This face is worth 600,000 yuan,” Ms. Deng says.
Beauty procedures are an “efficient upward-mobility channel” for young women, says Liu Di, founder and chief executive ofcosmetic-surgery social-networking app Gengmei. “For them, it’s a better investment than getting into a good school or agood company.”
On Gengmei (“prettier”), people interested in cosmetic surgery can share experiences, connect with clinics and get loans forprocedures. Gengmei has 18 million users and counts internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. as an investor. Asked about the app’s popularity, Mr. Liu says Chinese are more judgmental about failure than about plastic surgery.
“We value success more than values,” he says.
China is the world’s third-largest market for cosmetic surgery, behind the U.S. and Brazil, according to China’s Association ofPlastics and Aesthetics. How much of the spending is driven by social media is hard to quantify.

Beijing DJ Liu Shuang, before. PHOTO: LIU SHUANG

Ms. Liu after work that gave her the much-sought ‘online-star face.’ PHOTO: LIU SHUANG

Ms. Liu with her current ‘mixed-race face.’PHOTO: LIU SHUANG
What researchers call the “online-celebrity economy”—which includes e-commerce sales driven by personalities, virtual giftsand sponsorships—totaled 52.8 billion yuan ($7.66 billion) in 2016, research firm Analysys International estimates. That isbigger than China’s film box office.
Young women used to come in with photos of movie stars they wanted to look like, says Luan Jie, a 30-year veteran at thePlastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Science in Beijing. Now they show him photos of stream queens.
“Successful online stars have a big impact on the aesthetics of our society, especially on the younger generation,” says Dr.Luan. The online-star face, with its attention-getting features, is turning women into cartoon characters, he says, and manylook the same.
Liu Shuang, a 20-year-old music DJ in Beijing who uses social media and live-streaming for promotion, blames the online-starface for her career struggles. Her solution: further surgery—a 12-hour procedure last month to give her what she calls “amixed-race face.”
“Most girls get plastic surgery that makes them look Japanese or Korean. Mine is more exaggerated, so more differentiating,” she says. Ms. Liu got a discount for the procedure, which she says would ordinarily cost more than 300,000 yuan, by allowingthe clinic to use her before-and-after photos.
As with other investments, returns aren’t guaranteed. Audiences are tiring of repetitive content and faces, industry peoplesay. Audience numbers and revenue for live-streaming shows are falling this year, says Jason Yang, founder of Mars DigitalEntertainment, an online talent agency with 2,000 clients, including both Ms. Deng and Ms. Liu.
Recent government actions to remove edgy content hasn’t helped. Ms. Liu, who often posts suggestive photos and videos, had her accounts deleted on two popular sites.
Her answer to these challenges: more plastic surgery.
As soon as she recovers from her mixed-race-face surgery, Ms. Liu plans operations to enlarge both her bottom and breasts.
“It is a very competitive industry,” she says. “If you’re not perfect, outstanding and beautiful, you won’t have a chance.”

Word

“網紅臉”能走多遠？

渴望成為網絡紅人以獲得豐厚收入的中國年輕女性尋求通過整容來擁有“網紅臉”，但這種投資真能帶來回報嗎？

2017年 04月 14日 12:43

評論

袁莉

鄧倩已經做了十多次整容手術，包括瘦手臂、豐胸和改變臉上的幾乎所有部位。

她說：我肚臍以上都是假的。

鄧倩的目標是在脖子以上整出一張“網紅臉”──大眼睛、長鼻子、大額頭和尖下巴，這正是那些渴望成為網絡紅人從而獲得豐厚收入的年青女性所追求的相貌。

鄧倩今年24歲，此前是商務專業，她說，在看臉的社會，如果你不好看，是沒有人去“care”你的，沒有人“follow”你的。

在視頻直播網站和微博(Weibo)上，鄧倩唱歌、談論她的生活和演示如何化妝。在中國的網紅世界裡，她的地位還比較低（微博粉絲數約23,600人），她渴望能上到更高的位置。鄧倩參加了中國的頂級相親節目和求職節目，並參演了一部關於整形手術的紀錄片。

在她的世界裡，整形手術是必需的，一張網紅臉是對更美好未來的投資。

鄧倩正嘗試從在線直播主播中脫穎而出。據行業高管和研究報告稱，目前中國有200多個直播平台，直播主播多達約600萬，其中大部分為女性。

網絡主播們在直播中聊天、唱歌，與粉絲們互動，向觀眾索討虛擬禮物。這些虛擬禮物可以兌換成現金。一些主播稱，通過直播一個月可以賺到幾萬美元。

變成網紅還可以進行產品代言。去年6月份，一個網紅在兩個小時內在淘寶店舖賣出了人民幣2,000萬元的服飾。

去年，一個憑藉發布原創吐槽短視頻而走紅的網紅獲得了近200萬美元的風險投資。

鄧倩預計她今年可以賺到約人民幣60萬元（約合9萬美元），主要依靠在線推銷美容整形。她說，這遠遠比上班掙得多，大學畢業後她從事過初級財務工作，月薪為人民幣6,000元。

鄧倩說，她的臉值60萬。

美容微整形社交應用更美(Gengmei)的創始人兼首席執行長劉迪表示，在中國，變美這件事情對於女孩子來說可能更像是一個更有效的上升通道，在她們看來，相比上更好的學校或找一家更好的公司，這可能是更好的對於人生的一筆投資。

對整形手術感興趣的用戶可以通過更美應用分享經驗，聯系醫院，以及獲得整形貸款。更美擁有1,800萬用戶，互聯網巨頭騰訊控股(Tencent Holdings Ltd.)也是其投資人。被問到這個應用的受歡迎度時，劉迪表示，中國現在對於整形本身的評價弱於中國人對一個人努力和上進心的評價。

他表示，其實對於中國人來說價值觀本身不是那麼重要，中國人看重的是成功本身。

整容前的北京音樂DJ劉爽圖片來源：LIU SHUANG

中國整形美容協會(Association of Plastics and Aesthetics)的數據顯示，中國是排在美國和巴西之後的全球第三大整形市場。不過，很難量化有多少整形消費是通過社交媒體驅動的。

研究機構易觀國際(Analysys International)估計，2016年研究人士所謂的“網紅經濟”（包括網絡紅人帶來的電子商務消費、虛擬禮物以及讚助等）總計達到人民幣528億元（合76.6億美元）。這一數字超過了中國的電影票房收入。

接受整容手術後的劉爽。手術給了她一張渴望已久的“網紅臉”。圖片來源：LIU SHUANG

北京中國醫學科學院整形外科醫院(Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Science)醫生、擁有30年整形外科經驗的欒傑表示，以前年輕的女性會帶著電影明星的照片來，說希望按照她們的模樣整形。現在給他看的都是網紅照片。

欒傑說，成功的網紅對社會、尤其是對年輕一代的審美觀會有非常大的影響。他說，她們的這種審美觀越來越接近一個卡通化的形態，就像卡通，她們都是千人一面，都是一樣。

目前擁有一張混血臉的劉爽圖片來源：LIU SHUANG

20歲的北京音樂DJ劉爽通過社交媒體和視頻直播進行宣傳推廣。劉爽將她職業上遇到的困難歸咎於網紅臉。她的解決辦法就是繼續整容。上個月她做了一次長達12個小時的整容手術，用她的話來說，這次手術給了她一張混血臉。

劉爽說，女孩子都會做比較日式或者韓式一點的，她做的比她們更夸張，因此辨識度還是會比她們大。劉爽允許醫院使用她整容前和整容後的照片，因此獲得了折扣。她說一般情況下這樣的手術費用要超過人民幣30萬元。

然而投資並不一定能夠帶來回報。行業人士表示，面對千篇一律的內容和千人一面觀眾們開始感到厭倦。在線經紀公司Mars Digital Entertainment創始人Jason Yang表示，今年視頻直播秀的觀眾數量和收入都在下降。該公司簽約了2,000名網紅，其中就包括鄧倩和劉爽。

最近政府採取行動清除低俗內容也給該行業帶來打擊。劉爽就經常發布挑逗性的照片和視頻，她在兩個熱門站點上的賬號都被刪除。

對於這些挑戰她的答案就是：繼續整容。

劉爽表示，等恢復完了這一段時間，她應該還會去做一個豐臀手術跟豐胸手術。

劉爽表示，畢竟這個行業的競爭太大了，如果你不夠完美、不夠優秀、不夠美麗的話，別人的機會會比你要多。

(本文作者袁莉是《華爾街日報》專欄作家。文中所述僅代表她的個人觀點。）

（本文版權歸道瓊斯公司所有，未經許可不得翻譯或轉載。）

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2017年5月3日星期三

1 時人 20170501 “網紅臉”能走多遠？

“網紅臉”能走多遠？

渴望成為網絡紅人以獲得豐厚收入的中國年輕女性尋求通過整容來擁有“網紅臉”，但這種投資真能帶來回報嗎？

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張貼留言

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2017年5月3日 星期三

1 時人 20170501 “網紅臉”能走多遠？

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2017年5月3日星期三