Miss China won the coveted title of Miss World on Saturday,
triumphing on home soil during a glitzy final held in a mining city on
the edge of the Gobi desert.
The mostly Chinese audience erupted
in cheers and fireworks lit up the sky when it was announced that the
home candidate, Yu Wenxia, had been awarded the title.
“When I was
young I felt very lucky because so many people helped me, and I hope in
the future I can help more children to feel lucky,” Yu, a 23-year-old
aspiring music teacher said when asked why she should be crowned.
Yu, who became
China’s second Miss World winner, appeared on stage in a dazzling array
of ballgowns during the two-hour final and serenaded the audience with a
piercing rendition of a popular Chinese song.
Last year’s winner,
Ivian Sarcos of Venezuela, handed over her crown to Yu, who wore a
sparkling blue dress, in the futuristic Dongsheng stadium in the
northeastern city of Ordos.
The final included a nod to the
culture of Inner Mongolia, with a performance by a group of Mongolian
musicians playing the erhu, a traditional two-stringed instrument.
Ordos,
which sits around 700 kilometres (440 miles) from the nearest beach,
was an unlikely setting for the world’s biggest beauty pageant.
The
city has grown rich over the last decade on the back of a coal mining
boom that has transformed it from a sandstorm-afflicted backwater into
one of the wealthiest places in China.
The boom triggered a frenzy
of building in the city, but the local government has struggled to fill
the vast tower blocks that sprung up, earning it the title of China’s
biggest ghost town.
However, enthusiastic competitors seemed
unfazed by the locale, expressing optimism that with the help of the
pageant, the city could leave its reputation behind and take its place
alongside other global centres of glitz and glamour.
“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.
Contestants churned yoghurt in a nomad’s yurt and
donned local dress to climb sand dunes during their month-long stint in
China. Video clips shown during the final showed the beauty queens
posing in swimwear on desert sand dunes.
A total of 116
contestants — the highest ever number to take part — took to the stage
during the final in a variety of stunning gowns, with estimates that
more than a billion people around the globe would be tuning in.
Miss
Mexico Mariana Reynoso was the bookmakers’ favourite for the title, but
failed to make the last seven candidates despite a strong showing in
the early rounds of the pageant. Miss Wales Sophie Moulds came in
second, while Miss Australia Jessica Kahawaty finished third.
A
red ceremonial flag was passed over to representatives from the South
East Asian resort island of Bali, hosts of the 2013 Miss World Final,
during the ceremony.
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