The shy, reserved and submissive Chinese woman is no longer an appropriate stereotype -- if it ever was -- as a recent survey suggests the country's women want to be seen as sexy, healthy and smart.

Nearly 340,000 people voted in an on-line poll that asked respondents to select 10 key words describing the charm of Chinese women. Sexy ranked fourth, after elegant, intelligent and healthy.

"We women love to talk about our experience of how to make our breasts larger and also how to lift our hips and keep our wrists smaller," the 20-something Ms. Chen said when giving her reasons for wanting to be considered "sexy".

The views expressed in the survey highlight a profound change in attitude. Ms Chen was born at a time when women wore thick clothes to hide their figures. But the past two-decades of social and economic development have transformed the traditional Chinese concept of women.

Baidu.com, the country's largest Chinese language Internet search engine, lists over 36 million hits relating to the word "sexy", an expression rarely uttered by past generations.

The idea of staying in fashion has also resulted in a whole area of business blossoming with trendy underwear boutiques, fitness salons, fashion magazines and shows all becoming increasingly popular.

Many survey respondents observed that looking sexy by wearing stylish clothing or having a healthy physique helped boost their self-esteem.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2006)