Miss Universe China

Miss Universe China (Chinese: 环球小姐中国) is an annual national beauty pageant that selects China's representative to the Miss Universe pageant since 2002.

History

The Miss Universe China Organization was established in 2002. The first ever Miss Universe China titleholder, Zhuo Ling, was selected in Guangdong province in March, 2002. She represented her country in Miss Universe 2002 and placed 2nd runner-up.

In July 2002, the Miss Universe license for China was awarded to Johnny Kao, a prominent Chinese-American entrepreneur and businessman. The organization held the Miss Universe China pageant for the next few years.

On January 6, 2011, the Miss Universe Organization designated media icon and entrepreneur Yue-Sai Kan as the official licensee for the People’s Republic of China. Miss Universe officials and the then-reigning titleholder, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico, traveled to China to award the license to Kan. In her first year, Yue-Sai Kan set up an international calibre pageant, flying in foreign celebrities including Petra Nemcova, Fadil Berisha and Riyo Mori to headline and launching a multi-million dollar production with major corporate sponsors. In subsequent years, the pageant has raised millions of dollars for China's national charities as well as Kan's China Beauty Charity Foundation. Celebrities including Paris Hilton and Charles Aznavour have participated in the pageant, and former Harper's Bazaar chief Lizzette Kattan provides styling for each year's candidates.

Under Yue-Sai Kan, the Miss Universe China Organization conducts a national search for its titleholder, consisting of a combination of regional preliminaries in major cities and provinces and direct auditions.^[1] Contestants and titleholders are trained for both the Miss China and Miss Universe competitions by an international panel of experts who prepare them in a wide range of areas, including media skills, presentation, makeup and English lessons. Winners of the Miss Universe China pageant receive one of the most valuable national crowns in the world, a diamond and ruby-encrusted tiara from Luk Fook valued at over US$430,000, as well as wardrobes supplied by Shanghai Tang, Sherri Hill, LOVA and leading Chinese couturier Guo Pei and professional modeling portfolios. They are also invited to walk for various designers at New York Fashion Week and Shanghai Fashion Week and receive red carpet invitations to the Shanghai International Film Festival and Hawaii International Film Festival.

Nearly every contestant fielded by Kan since she began heading the pageant has brought home an award from the Miss Universe finals, including two finalists and two special awards.

Documentary

In 2014, the contest was the subject of a documentary series, "Finding Miss China" (寻找中国美), produced by Jonathan Finnigan and Lucky Devil Films of Singapore. The documentary featured three of the Miss Universe China 2014 contestants from their recruitment to their training and official visit to Colombo to meet Sri Lanka's first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa. The six online episodes of the documentary attracted over ten million viewers in their first month. ^[2]

Titleholders

Color key

The winner of Miss China represents her country at the Miss Universe. On occasion, when the winner does not qualify the contest, a runner-up is sent.

Year	Miss China	Chinese Name	Traditional Chinese	Hometown	Placement	Special Awards
2015	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
2014 [d]	Yanliang Hu	胡彦良	胡彦良	Beijing
	Nora Xu	许乃蜻	許乃蜻	Henan	Did not compete
2013	Jin Ye	靳烨	靳燁	Beijing	Top 16	Miss Congeniality
2012	Xu Jidan	许继丹	許繼丹	Jilin		Best National Costume
2011	Luo Zilin	罗紫琳	羅紫琳	Shanghai	4th Runner-Up
2010	Tang Wen[3]	唐雯	唐雯	Heilongjiang
2009	Wang Jingyao[4]	王静瑶	王靜瑤	Shandong		Miss Congeniality
2008[a]	Wei Ziya[5]	魏子雅	魏子雅	Guizhou
2007[b]	Zhang Ningning[5]	张宁宁	張寧寧	Liaoning		Miss Congeniality
2006[c]	Gao Yinghui[5]	高英慧	高英慧	Heilongjiang
	Qi Fang	齐芳	齐芳	Shanxi	Did not compete
2005	Tao Siyuan[5]	陶思媛	陶思媛	Sichuan
2004	Zhang Meng[5]	张萌	張萌	Tianjin
2003	Wu Wei[5]	吴薇	吳薇	Fujian
2002	Zhuo Ling[6]	卓灵	卓靈	Shanghai	2nd Runner-Up

^a - Wei Ziya was scheduled to compete in the 2007 Miss Universe pageant, but participated a year later in Miss Universe 2008.
^b - Zhang Ningning was handpicked by the organization to represent China in Miss Universe 2007.
^c - Qi Fang was replaced by Gao Yinghui as the official representative to Miss Universe 2006.
^d - Nora Xu resigned her title to complete her undergraduate education and was succeeded by Karen Hu.

See also

• Miss China World
• Miss Earth China

References

Other references

• "Miss Universe, China Organization". misschinauniverse.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2006. Retrieved 15 May 2008. 
• "Introduction". misschinauniverse.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2008. 

External links

• Official Miss Universe China website