American granny Norma, 66, accompanied by her friend Diane, flew to China a few days ago, aiming to have a facelifting operation in the Aist Facelifting Center in Changsha, Hunan Province.

She already received wrinkle-reducing operations on August 29. This is the first time for a Changsha's beauty parlour agency to serve a US citizen.

Norma, with buff hair and blue eyes, once a manager of a facelifting center in Michigan, told our reporter that she had decided to have a plastic surgery in China years ago. When she was a child, her mother joked with her that to dig a long tunnel and go through will bring her to China one day.

From then on, she imagined that China must be a fantastic place and hoped to visit its metropolises and cultural relics. Now her dream has come true. Norma will stay in China for two weeks, and she will visit Shaoshan -- Chairman Mao's hometown, Beijing, and Shanghai.

Norma revealed that in US, elderly people usually would seek the help of plastic surgeons to make themselves look younger, so plastic surgery has become part of American culture. Taking a comprehensive plastic surgery in America at least costs thousands of dollars, and while in China, it costs much lower. She believed the saved money from the surgery would be enough for her travel expenses in China.

She said Zeng Minle, director of Asit Facelifting Center (US) was one of her best friends, thus she trusted the agency. She believes Chinese plastic technology is as advanced as America's, so she finally chose Changsha's Asit.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2006)