As China embraces beauty pageants, Miss China Yu Wenxia was crowned Miss World on Saturday. She is the second contestant to win from China: 2007’s Zhang Zilin was the first Chinese contestant to win an international beauty contest. From the Associated Press:
China’s Yu Wenxia has been crowned the 2012 Miss World.
The first runner-up is Sophie Elizabeth Moulds of Wales and the second runner-up is Jessica Michelle Kahawaty of Australia.
The 23-year-old Yu is a music student who says she wants to become a music teacher.
This is the first time for the Inner Mongolian city of Ordos to host the international beauty pageant.
The host city of Ordos is known as “China’s biggest ghost town” following a burst of government-funded construction that far outpaced utilisation. Pageant contestants expressed optimism about the city’s future, however. From AFP:
“Ordos could be the next Dubai,” Marielle Wilkie, representing the Caribbean nation of Barbados, confidently predicted.
Albanian contestant Floriana Garo chimed in with her own bold statement.
“In ten years, this city will be booming,” she said.
Architecture in Ordos, where the city museum is shaped like an undulating blob, is “world class,” added Markysa O’Loughlin, representing St. Kitts and Nevis, also in the Caribbean.
