Chinese consumers’ love of Western luxury brands is well-documented and shows no sign of flagging. But there is a small but growing stable of companies who are betting that Chinese luxury goods buyers will soon begin to seek out items reflecting their own culture.

    As incomes rise in China, young people are more focused on beauty, and more of them are coming to South Korea on beauty tours in search of that “get ahead” look. 

    On the streets of Apgujeong, the Seoul neighborhood that is ground zero for plastic surgery in Asia, there are new faces looking to get lifted. The latest boost to South Korea’s booming beauty industry? China’s wealthy.

    Asked at the start of their first Chinese class what motivated them to take up the language, the students of the Institute de la Providence, a secondary school outside Namur in Belgium, gave their new teacher varied answers. 

    “It’s a big country,” said one. “I’ve been to China and would like to go back,” ventured another. 

    Hong Kong resident Renee James wanted to keep news of her pregnancy quiet for a few months. Her doctor urged her to book a hospital immediately. By the time Ms. James started looking for a hospital bed in the tenth week of her pregnancy, it was too late. 

    In his 1975 hit song, Paul Simon told dithering heartbreakers everywhere that there were 50 ways to leave your lover. Chinese entrepreneurs, ever attuned to the angst of 21st-century life, have added a 51st -- pay a complete stranger to do it.

    For the equivalent of about $30 per break-up, a new breed of website will hit a soon-to-be ex with the bad news and save the timid customer the anguish of doing it themselves.