Big in the Land of Milk and Honey

The largest medical complex in Asia is being constructed in Chengdu with an initial US $5 billion investment from South Korea businessmen. Covering 31.5 square kilometers, Chengdu International Hospital is being built to tap into one of Asia's fastest growing medical sectors: plastic surgery.

The complex hopes to attract high income earners in China and medical tourists from throughout Asia and overseas by providing top-notch hospital management and medical experts, including a team of mostly South Korean specialists who will be brought in to perform operations alongside Chinese surgeons. Chinese demand for plastic surgery is growing at a stunning 20 percent a year. With a plastic surgery market second only to the United States, China will provide such treatment to four million patients in 2010.

Chengdu is known as a habitat of giant pandas and the city of cotton-rose hibiscus. Located on the edge of the fertile plains of the Red Basin, its agricultural wealth has earned it the title "Land of Milk and Honey." The major metropolitan area is home to nearly ten million people with millions more residing in the surrounding area.

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