Beijing women have a sexier self-image than their counterparts in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

A recent survey shows 33 percent of young women in Beijing think of themselves as sexy compared to 24 percent in Shanghai and just 15 percent in Guangzhou.

The British advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) and consumer research company Jigsaw International polled 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 35 in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou for their "China Whispers" survey.

But not everyone agreed with the survey results. "To me, Shanghai women are sexier than Beijing women," said Ying Yan, a 30-year-old female who has lived in both cities.

"More Beijing women think they are sexy because they're more confident about saying so. Shanghai women are shy about saying such things."

Only 37 percent of respondents said they'd never consider going 'under the knife' for plastic surgery. And the epic battle to drop a dress size seems to be universal with 42 percent having tried to lose weight over the last three months.

"The consumer-scape in China changes at a speed which often catches marketers out," said Pete Heskett, head of planning at BBH China. The survey's goal was to identify the lifestyles, attitudes and pop culture preferences of young people in major cities.

The results showed that young Chinese shoppers have access to funds with 52 percent saying they'd spent more than 1,000 yuan on a single item of clothing recently.

Young people also seem to have increasingly progressive attitudes towards their diets with 67 percent prepared to buy organic produce even if it means paying 25 percent more. This reflects a keen sense of the link between food safety and personal health. The respondents' favorite foreign food was Japanese followed by Korean.

When it came to viewing habits, Western imports were preferred, with 39 percent of respondents saying they'd seen Prison Break and 20 percent having followed Lost. These particular findings were perhaps unexpected as these shows are not officially shown on any network in China.

(China Daily January 18, 2007)