Brains, beauty on show in Shanghai
The first beauty pageant in China since the 1950s took place in Shanghai last weekend and it was a real honour to be one of the 10 judges.
The Charm de Chine event in the ballroom of the new Grand Hyatt Hotel was a prestigious affair, with many of Shanghai's glitterati turning up to see and be seen. Other judges included internationally acclaimed film director Zhang Yimou of Raise the Red Lantern fame, actress Rosamund Kwan and comedian Stephen Chiau.
Event organiser Lily Liu, whose company Shanghai Weicon Optics was the main sponsor, said the aim of the pageant was to select women who not only possessed beauty but also wisdom to represent the new generation of mainland women.
'All the contestants are university students and that was the main criteria for entry,' she said.
The search began eight months ago and it was open to university students from all over China. There were more than 10,000 applications from around the country in the first round. The field was then narrowed down to 1,000. In the semi-finals, the judges had to choose 10 out of 40 and then the top three in the finals.
Lily said there had been plenty of model competitions in China but not a beauty pageant, which is why last weekend's event attracted so much media attention. About 50 representatives of the media attended, among them Time and Newsweek; TVB from Hong Kong; TVBS from Taiwan and CCTV were also there to telecast the event to more than 600 million viewers.
'Model competitions only look for tall skinny girls with a view to grooming them to become a model . . . the Charm de Chine beauty pageant looks for girls who are intelligent, charming, confident and realistically beautiful,' Lily said.
And winners are not encouraged to become models or actresses but to complete their tertiary education and get their degrees. Indeed, the main prize for the top 10 semi-finalists is a scholarship to complete their university education.
'People don't know this but lots of girls drop out of university in China because they don't have the financial help to continue their education,' Lily said. 'I believe that in order to find the new generation of mainland Chinese women which embody all the qualities I've mentioned, they need a good education.' Lily's ambition goes further afield than mainland China. She hopes that the Charm de Chine beauty pageant will be a stepping stone to the Miss World pageant. 'It would be nice to have a Miss China represented in the Miss World pageant sometime soon,' she said.
