That’s Stretching It a Bit Too Far.docVIP

That?s Stretching It a Bit Too Far A while ago a lady I met on a plane told me I was very lucky and must have been a really good person in a past life. I took the bait, and asked her why? “Some Chinese believe that if you are tall in this life it means you are being rewarded for many acts of kindness you have done in the past and your life will be blessed,” she said. As a tall foreigner living in China, I generally tower over most people and often overhear or am given comments about my height. The comments are always complimentary. I guess I take my 1.9 meters for granted. Having been the same height since high school and with the people around me growing up usually as tall as I was, the world always seemed “elevated.” In China there is an increasing desire to be tall, despite people?s genetic make-up and it?s being taken to new heights. It?s a desire driven by the sheer volume of people competing for partners, promotions and prime job openings, where any advantage is sought in order to get a foot in the door. And the recruiters behind those doors can afford to be picky. If you?re short and you got through the door anyway, the word on the street is height means rapid advancement through the ranks. A Xinhua report recently said young professionals who hold the common belief that taller people have more opportunity for promotion are “desperate to climb up the ladder in the country?s height-conscious society.” In the wake of voice operations to improve voice quality and cosmetic surgery to improve every facet of physical appearance, the height seekers are turning to an operation that extends the bones of patients using a practice first invented by Russia in the 19th century, and used initially to assist people with birth defects. The surgery procedure is not for the feint hearted. The patient has their legs broken and then pinned together internally, while the legs are held in place by metal frames externally. Trussed up in a rack, the leg bones are the