She only wanted to look her prettiest on her wedding day. And she was willing to undergo liposuction to make her wish come true.

But Miss Xu Cailan, 23, never lived to see that day.

Apple Daily reported that Miss Xu, a native of Hainan province, had always been conscious about her looks.

A year ago, she had spent RMB2,000 ($420) to remove her eyebags at Shenzhen Sun Hospital, and was very pleased with the results.

But she still felt that her face looked too gaunt, and was worried that she would not look good in her wedding photos.

But she did not want her fiance, a 31-year-old Hong Kong citizen known only as Mr Yang, to know about her intention to have the operation.

So she secretly went for an operation, which cost about RMB10,000, to inject fat extracted from her hips to her face, last Tuesday. Her good friend, Miss Wu, accompanied her for the operation.

The operation started at 5pm and was over about an hour later. But suddenly, one of the medical staff rushed out of the operating theatre and told Miss Wu, who had been waiting outside, that Miss Xu was having breathing difficulties.

At around 8pm, Miss Wu suddenly heard two loud screams from the operating theatre. Frightened and worried for Miss Xu, she tried to enter the theatre but was stopped by a nurse, who said: 'It's not her, it's another patient.'

At about 9pm, the nurse came out and told her that Miss Xu's condition was unstable, and that she needed to contact her family.

Miss Wu immediately called Mr Yang, who was in Hong Kong, on his mobile phone. Mr Yang rushed to the hospital and arrived at 10.30pm.

The nurse told him that they were still trying to revive Miss Xu. But at 11pm, the surgeon finally broke the bad news: Miss Xu had died.

An already devastated Mr Yang received a second shock when he found out that a medical report issued by the hospital stated that Miss Xu had died at 9.55pm.

Mr Yang felt the hospital had not been completely honest about what had happened, and called the police. But police officers who arrived at the hospital said they would take no further action as the report stated that Miss Xu had died of fat embolism and respiratory failure.

The head of Shenzhen Sun Hospital, Dr Huang, said that death from liposuction surgery was extremely rare, and this was the hospital's first case of its kind. She said she was very sorry for Miss Xu's death but as it was not due to a failed operation, the hospital can only compensate up to RMB160,000.

Miss Xu's family have not accepted the hospital's offer, and have engaged lawyers to demand for higher compensation.

This article was first published in The New Paper