Some people proclaim the success of the facial transplant operation marks the advent of a new era, one in which changing face will be as normal as changing clothing.

Teng Li, a doctor with the Plastic Surgery Hospital affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, believes facial transplant surgery should be encouraged as a scientific exploration, though he cautioned that experiments on animals should be conducted before clinical trials on humans.

“The practice demonstrates that the development of medical science enables human beings to unravel old mysteries,” Teng said.

Xia Xueluan, a sociologist and professor at Peking University, however, suggested that facial transplant should never be legalized.

“Once it is made lawful, it could be distorted as a normal plastic surgery,” Xia argued. “Since everyone wants to look prettier, what would happen then? It is the face that gives a person identity, so should a person be granted a new identity after being grafted another face?”

Xia gave two examples of potential problems. He said people would be panicked if they saw an acquaintance who had died walking in the street. And if a 40-year-old man was given the face of a 20-year-old, the man’s children would have to call a brother-like man father.

Another doctor who declined to be named raised additional concerns about the tricky ethical issues that follow a face graft. “Could you imagine your dead husband walking in the street, holding another woman’s hand? Could you imagine embracing your husband’s body but kissing another person’s face?” he asked.

Liang Huixing, a civil law expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, warned that if a facial transplant operation is misappropriated, it will impose a huge challenge on social administration.

In China, every identity card carries the person’s picture, which means the face, rather than fingerprint, voice frequency, retina or DNA test, is usually used to confirm a person’s identity. Under such circumstances, criminals could take advantage of a facial transplant operation as a way to dodge the law, Liang said.

“Facial grafting is a farce and it will never be allowed by the law,” noted Zheng Yefu, a sociologist at Peking University.

Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociology professor at the Renmin University of China, goes even further with his criticisms. “I strongly oppose the idea of changing face. If we can change face today, tomorrow we might want to change head, which would be totally ridiculous. Who will be the person? The owner of the head or the owner of the body?”