Hundreds of young Chinese, obsessed with stature in this increasingly crowded and competitive society, are stretching themselves to new heights on a latter-day rack developed by a Russian doctor 40 years ago to treat dwarfism and deformed limbs. The often painful Ilizarov procedure, named for its inventor, adds length by allowing new bone to grow in the gap left by the gradually separating ends of broken bone. The procedure is used in the United States, but mainly for therapeutic purposes. Its cosmetic use is far less frequent than in China.

If not done carefully, the risks are high. Bones separated too quickly will not mend or will grow together with tissue too fragile to bear the body's weight. Limbs can end up being different lengths and shanks can grow warped, deforming the knee and ankle joints. Nerves may be damaged.

But in a country where there are tallness requirements for jobs, colleges and even spouses, many young people are willing to take such drastic measures to get ahead.

The Chinese are at least as aware of height as Americans are of hair or skin color. It is one of the first attributes offered or asked about when discussing someone new, particularly a person of the opposite sex. Newspaper classified sections are sprinkled with sought-after heights, expressed in centimeters. Matchmakers and personal advertisements are particularly precise in their prerequisites.

On the lonely-hearts page of one recent issue of The Shanghai Morning Post, a 162-centimeter-tall woman (just under 5-foot-4) was looking for a man who was 170 centimeters (5-foot-7) or taller. A 36-year-old man said he was 176 centimeters tall and wanted to meet a 30-year-old woman who was 163 centimeters.

Given the hordes of qualified applicants that descend on any opportunity here, many institutions find height an easy way to cut down the field. That gives a distinct advantage to northern Chinese, who are on average taller than southerners.

Deng Xiaoping, a southerner who stood just 4-foot-11, would have been out of luck had he come of age in this decade. Many divisions of the army in which he made his mark in the 1930's and 40's now require male recruits to be at least 5-foot-3. Even the government that he once led wants only tall Chinese today in jobs that involve meeting foreigners. China's Foreign Ministry demands that would-be diplomats be at least 5-foot-7 if they are men, 5-foot-3 if they are women.

It is no wonder, then, that height remedies are a huge business in this country. Quacks hawk herbal tonics that promise new growth, or magnetic shoe insoles that are said to stimulate the production of human growth hormone. Some doctors give injections of growth hormone.

''This is a developing country with relatively few opportunities and a huge population,'' said Xia Hetao, the doctor who performed Ms. Zhang's operation. He spoke during a recent interview in his sleekly appointed offices. ''The competitive pressures are enormous.''

Dr. Xia charges $6,000 to $7,000 to add up to six inches of height, depending on the patient's ideal proportions. The initial operation, in which he severs the thighbone or shinbone through two small incisions in the skin, takes about an hour and a half. He then attaches his own version of a metal fixation device with pins that pierce the skin and are screwed into the bone above and below the break.

Patients turn white plastic dials on the contraptions four times a day to winch their broken bones apart. It takes 15 days to grow one centimeter, or less than half an inch, of new bone. The patients spend an average of six months in the device and three more in recovery.

On Dr. Xia's ward, a plump 24-year-old man with steel-rimmed glasses and short spiky hair said he had been there since November to add three and a half inches to his original 5 feet 3 inches.

He said he had not told anyone outside his family what he was up to.

''I'll say I took injections,'' he said sheepishly. ''They don't have to know.''

After performing more than 700 of the leg-lengthening operations, Dr. Xia said only three of his patients had had any complaints. In one case, a 55-year-old man turned out to be too old to heal properly. In another, a 23-year-old woman grew impatient and increased her height too quickly. In a third case, another 23-year-old woman refused to eat sufficiently because she was afraid of getting fat, and so her bones failed to reattach. He said all three cases were corrected with subsequent treatment.

He conceded, though, that most of the country's dozen or so doctors performing the operation had had more frequent trouble.

Newspapers periodically report cases in which the process has gone awry, leaving young men with their feet turned grotesquely on twisted legs or their weakened bones breaking again and again.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35343576)

LOL @ "men" being 5'3''

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35902151)

flood of all cash xo patientsto hit the middle kingdom

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35343644)

just another reason why korea is the greatest country on earth

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35343693)

I've sampled.

Don't argue.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35344463)

and 165.6 cm (5'5") for the other half of your "first-world" peninsula

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_average_human_height_worldwide

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35343855)

stop counting the old generation. they are irrelevant

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35344435)

lol at you trying to convince us that the average korean male is 5'10"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35344459)

not only are we the tallest of CJK we have the highest growth potential thanks to our 180 genetics

sub-30 male height will reach 180 in the next 2 generations easily

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35344472)

stop counting the old generation. they are irrelevant

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35344443)

Anything over 5'4" is handsome.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35343664)

It's like winning an all u can eat bbq buffet but having no water

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35343918)

Their women don't seem much better.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35343943)

Widespread incel belief that their life would be 180 but-for their incel nature. But as Palsgraf teaches us, their incel status is a symptom, not the cause. The cause is relentless nihilistic modernity, which China does even more than the USA.

An incel dork who fucks 1000 Asians doesn't get to be a Chad.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35380944)

NYUUG--going for metric and 5'8"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3885555&forum_id=2#35344490)