By Li Hongmei

Young people have become the major customers for minor plastic surgery and piercings in China during the school holidays, such as the recent Chinese New Year or Spring Festival vacation, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The Xinhua report said that many stalls in a market on Fengyutan Street in Shenyang in China's northeast that offered ear, lip, tongue, nose and belly button piercing. When questioned, the proprietors professed to be trained nurses but failed to produce any medical license.

Wang Yang, head of the 202nd People's Liberation Army Hospital's plastic surgery department, said, "As long as there is a need to cut through the skin, it can be classified as 'plastic surgery,'" adding, "We would not encourage young people to carry out any kind of plastic surgery because they will face a greater impact, both physically and mentally, if the surgery fails as they are not yet mature enough to undergo it."

Xinhua quoted an anonymous cosmetic surgeon who reported that there had been a peak in young people undergoing minor surgeries too, with children as young as eight or nine getting double-eyelid surgery - a type of surgery popular in East Asia to give the appearance of larger or "Western" eyes - accompanied by parents.

Xinhua also warned that many of these "surgeons" may not be qualified and certified, and that market stalls are not an appropriate place to get piercings.