Nineteen-year-old Miss Ireland, Rosanna Davison, daughter of singer Chris de Burgh, was crowned Miss World 2003 on Saturday in Communist China's first international beauty pageant, an event that would have once been branded a heretical display of western decadence.
"I would like to describe myself as a fun-loving yet humble person and hopefully a great ambassador for my country and for women all around the world," Davison said when asked to describe her life and character just before the result was announced.
PHOTO: EPA
Runner-up was Miss Canada, Nazanin Afshin-Jam, 24. Chinese contestant Qi Guan, a fashion designer, was second runner-up in the country's third attempt at grabbing the crown.
In contrast to last year's pageant, moved to Britain from Nigeria following Muslim-Christian riots sparked by controversy over the contest, more than 100 beauty queens displayed their talents on the peaceful, semi-tropical island of Hainan.
Showing how far China has come since the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, when women could be branded counter-revolutionaries for wearing makeup, officials embraced the contest as a way of boosting Hainan's image, according to state-run media.
Until recently, China banned beauty contests as expressions of decadence but beauty has become big business. Fashion show catwalks grace fancy shopping malls and billboards advertising beauty products and brand names are common.
The state-run media recently called 2003 "the first pageant year in China" but local contests have attracted young beauties for the best part of a decade.
At least 10 beauty contests were held in the southern city of Guangzhou last year, according to the Xinhua news agency.
China banned beauty pageants after the Communists swept to power in 1949 and did not enter the Miss World Competition, which started two years later, until 2001.
But even with official sanction, the transition to a beauty contest-friendly China has not been all smooth. Last year, police in southern China raided an auditorium during the Miss China contest saying the organizers had no permit.
The pageant was quietly allowed to continue and the winner, Zhuo Ling, went on to become second runner-up at the Miss Universe finals in Puerto Rico.
China, an economic giant striving to raise its profile in ways other than hosting the summer Olympics in 2008, has its sights on other beauty contests.
The People's Daily, recently reported the Miss International competition would be held in China next year.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NASA on Saturday rolled out its towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft as it began preparations for its first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. The maneuver, which takes up to 12 hours, would allow the US space agency to begin a string of tests for the Artemis 2 mission, which could blast off as early as Feb. 6. The immense orange and white SLS rocket, and the Orion vessel were slowly wheeled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and painstakingly moved 6.5km to Launch Pad 39B. If the
RSS