Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT

"Would you rather have 34C boobs with a flat butt or 32A boobs with a bubble butt?" I once threw this burning question out to my friends and it immediately stirred up debate.

The majority of them said they would rather have bigger breasts because they are much more appreciated in China. "If you asked a Chinese man, he'd definitely say boobs," one woman said. That explains why padded bras are so popular in Asia. "I am afraid most men would be turned off by bigger women," another one added. That explains why many of my curvy Western friends have complained of the difficulty of finding a Chinese boyfriend.

One thing that remained a constant - men always figured somewhere into their answers. Maybe the body types they were naming weren't what they wanted, but what they thought men wanted. I understand their concerns as most of my Chinese friends are as flat as a board, and fit the Asian standard of beauty: the thinner the better.

Which is why, over this Chinese New Year, I was surprised to see bubble butts trending on Chinese social media. I saw countless women posting photos of their butt workouts on WeChat, as they struggle to beat genetics.

I talked to one of them, Lena, who for the past year has been doing a Brazilian butt workout and posting pictures of her progress. Lena, who is 29, said her New Year's resolution was to get rid of her pancake butt. "I want to challenge the reigning standard of beauty," she said. "I want to feel healthy and sexy like those Victoria's Secret models."

It hasn't been easy - her routine is grueling. Her original goal was to do at least 100 squats and lunges every day. In the beginning, her thigh muscles were so sore that she could barely walk straight. Then she changed the routine to every other day.

She says strengthening the muscles has made her butt look bigger. "You have been working out for months, so how come you still look big?" her friends sometimes ask, but she likes to believe that the word they are looking for is "healthy."

The greatest challenge has come from her Chinese boyfriend. Lena was warned when she started out that most Chinese guys are turned off by Latin curves a la J-Lo, and she worried that her boyfriend wouldn't like her newfound curves. Maybe he did not notice the small changes in her body at the beginning. But around a year later, as they were about to go to bed one night, he suddenly screamed out, "Oh my God! Have you turned Brazilian?!" She was too shocked to respond. Then after a long pause, he added, "Wow, that's sexy. Kind of. " Lena was relieved.

Since then, Lena has started promoting the "bubble butt" workout and has attracted many fangirls with the sentiment, "A boob job is paid for, a bubble butt is earned."

This week, Lena posted a challenge asking her fans to post photos of their butt workouts. The results were hilarious, with pictures of women doing squats on the bus, in the office, in the bathroom, brushing their teeth and even feeding their babies.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.