Why a Billion People Just Watched a Doctor Poke a Famous Chinese Actress in The Face

It was arguably the biggest audition of Angelababy's life.

Outside, a swarm of autograph-seekers and paparazzi crowded the Beijing street, straining to catch a glimpse of the Chinese actress and supermodel.

Inside, the atmosphere was even tenser. Lots of money, maybe even Angelababy's career, was on the line. With the cameras rolling, Angelababy took her seat and waited for directions.

That's when the doctor began to poke her in the face.

The surreal scene wasn't part of a Chinese soap opera or film. It was real life, although just barely. Angelababy wasn't performing for a director, but rather for a plastic surgeon. And the tests she underwent had nothing to do with her acting ability. Instead, it was all about her looks.

Angelababy, whose real name is Yeung Wing, arrived Thursday at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences with something to prove: that she had never had plastic surgery.

What ensued was a bizarre and brutally public physical examination. Angelababy underwent a battery of tests, including X-rays and even a plastic surgeon poking around the inside of her mouth.

All the while, pictures of the exam were posted on state television and Weibo, China's wildly-popular Twitter-like microblogging site.

"Angelababy's cosmetic results announced," ran headlines across the country.

The story behind Angelababy's strange exam dates back to 2012, when Beijing beauty clinic Ruili claimed that she had plastic surgery.

"Angelababy's plastic surgery fails, netizens say her chin is extremely unnatural," ran the headline of an article posted on the clinic's Web site, according to Shanghaiist.

The actress denied the report and sued the clinic for 500,000 yuan, or roughly $79,000, in compensation, according to the BBC.

For three years, the case has gone back and forth in court. This May, a judge ruled in her favor but the clinic appealed.

Finally, a Beijing judge suggested that the dispute be settled once and for all by Angelababy having her face examined by medical professionals "to certify its authenticity," the BBC reported.

And so it was that the 26-year-old actress arrived to a Beijing plastic surgery clinic on Thursday - not to get work done, but rather to prove that she had received none.

According to Chinese media, a renowned plastic surgeon named Qi Zuoliang performed the exam in front of her lawyer, two notaries public and a host of reporters.

"During his examination, Qi noted that there no cut marks on her eyelids, around her eyes or around her mouth," Shanghaiist reported.

"Angelababy did not wear makeup and was proactive during the examination," according to another fashion blog, AsiaOne. "She asked the surgeon to check her forehead, nose, chin, cheekbones and apple cheeks, and said to reporters who were present: 'Quick, help me think where else.'"

Qi's verdict: Angelababy was naturally angelic.

"Baby's entire head and facial bones do not have any signs of incisions," he told reporters, according to the BBC.

The doctor's determination bolsters Angelababy's argument that Ruili's article was defamatory. It also goes some way to dispelling a persistent rumor that has long dogged the actress for years, with closely scrutinized photos allegedly showing a much different-looking Angelababy circulating on social media for years, according the BBC.

For her part, the model turned actress has always said that her looks are due to a German grandfather, makeup and dental work as a teen.

Even if Angelababy wins in court, however, it might prove to be a Pyrrhic victory for Chinese actresses, models and, more broadly, women.

While the case could dissuade critics from making unproven public assertions about celebrities' appearances, it has also reinforced China's obsession with plastic surgery in the pursuit of physical perfection.

China ranked behind only the United States and Brazil in terms of total plastic surgery procedures performed in 2013, according to industry officials and Chinese media.

For Angelababy, the court case has subjected not only her looks but also her love life to extraordinary scrutiny.

Last week, the actress married actor Huang Xiaoming in a glitzy celebrity wedding. The headlines, however, quickly turned to Huang's comments from last year regarding his wife's appearance.

"Huang has previously defended the actress," the BBC reported.

His comments, however, weren't exactly supportive.

"Actually she sometimes looks quite ugly to me," he said. "I'm not an idiot, I definitely can tell she hasn't had plastic surgery, sometimes she doesn't put on make up and she really looks like those ugly pictures of her."

Meanwhile, even after Angelababy passed her public plastic surgery exam with flying colors, many people on Weibo simply refused to believe the results. Some suggested the beauty stunt suffered from the same problem as Chinese business and politics.