There is nothing easy about setting your sights on becoming the 10th Miss Chinese International.
Wearing swimsuits in winter, enduring six-hour hair and make-up sessions, losing 4.5 kilograms in days and saying doh che like a native Hong Konger are some of the hurdles to be cleared with a graceful smile.
Hair piled high and dressed in Qing dynasty gowns - courtesy of the TVB wardrobe department - 17 women launched their bids for thousands of dollars in cash, jewellery, watches and other prizes yesterday.
They came from places including London, Tahiti, Sydney, Los Angeles and Montreal, but any could become Miss Chinese International 1998 'as long as they have Chinese blood in them', TVB spokesman Susanna Lee Shui-ling said.
Some are facing two weeks of dieting as others smile wanly while straining to decipher Cantonese conversations around them.
'On TV, girls always come out fatter than they are,' image consultant Karen Chan Wai-ying said. 'The judges will care about their features and their proportions.