China Legislator Quits Pageant as Politics Rears Ugly Head

October 13, 2008 7:08 PM

From AFP:

A Chinese lawmaker has quit a after critics accused her of debasing the pageant with politics, state media said Monday.

, 22, ranked second out of 1,000 contestants in the Miss Chinese International Pageant, insisted she had not withdrawn under pressure, Xinhua news agency said.

“I’m too busy to continue the contest. I have a heavy workload,” she was quoted as saying, citing her political duties.

Yuan is a deputy to the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp legislature, from the eastern province of Jiangsu.