![\"Miss](\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20111231084109im_\/http:\/\/www.danwei.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Bikini-round-2-ss.jpg\" "\\"Miss")
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The band was playing\u00a0Cocaine\u00a0<\/em>as the small entourage entered but it was highly doubtful any of them would ever touch the stuff: these were international representatives of China, \u201cathletes\u201d in a land of contradictions, competing for fresh spoils.<\/p>\n After years of half-organized humiliations, the country is determined to seize an unusual new prize this September: Miss Universe, a controversial trophy offered by a US organization headed by the failed Presidential candidate and China-basher, Donald Trump.<\/p>\n The stiffly embossed invitations to the after-party offered the opportunity to \u201cmingle with stars, celebrities and Beijing\u2019s elite\u201d but, despite the dozens desperate for a moment, or ideally a picture, next to one, none of those at the centre of this civilized scrum were remotely famous (yet). They are the finalists from this year\u2019s Miss Universe China \u2013 the grand pageant, an impressively well-organized, if somewhat dull, event in Beijing\u2019s Mastercard Center, had just finished.<\/span><\/p>\n For a country that describes itself as traditional and conservative, China has beauty contests seemingly every month: Miss World is now regularly held each year in Sanya, seaside city on the island province of Hainan, \u00a0 also home to the local government\u2019s Bikini Beauty Contest every July. Shanghai has its Miss Bikini of The Universe contest, while Chengdu is due to host this year\u2019s Miss International Beauty Pageant. And there are dozens of other flesh parades at a lesser-known provincial venues . Some are corrupt, casting-couch affairs, organized for nefarious reasons \u2013 as PR for a provincial official\u2019s new (illegal) golf course, in the case of one described to me last year, in unglamorous Shanxi Province.<\/p>\n Others are not so welcome: Mr Gay China was treated to an embarrassing police raid in front of world media in 2009 and the competition hasn\u2019t been heard from since.<\/p>\n But if televised extravaganzas such as the Beijing Olympics are an example of how the state is able to orchestrate world-class events to its exact specifications, this year\u2019s Miss Universe can be viewed as the private sector\u2019s ambition to do just the same, albeit with government approval, on a smaller scale, and with a blizzard of confetti replacing climactic fireworks.<\/p>\n The local cast list at Miss Universe China 2011 was eclectic, unusual and \u2013 as the invitation curtly reminded \u2013 \u201celite.\u201d We had judge Tony Li, both flamboyant TV star and owner of the hair salon chain Tony Studios, non-coincidentally one of the sponsors.\u00a0 There, prowling the cocktail circuit like Steppenwolf, was judge\u00a0Zhang Huan<\/a>, a performance artist who divides his time between New York and Shanghai. Earlier, we saw arrive on the red carpet the tall, slender supermodel known simply as\u00a0Du Juan,\u00a0Vogue<\/em>\u2019s first Asian cover star<\/a>.<\/p>\n Leading them all was Miss Universe\u2019s National Director, Yue-Sai Kan, (or Kan Yue-Sai), the cosmetics queen of China, who helped changed the faces of Chinese women in the 1980s\u00a0 by introducing them to make-up \u2013 her make-up, Yue-Sai Cosmetics, to be precise. After 1989, or so the story goes, the government made her pretty much responsible for turning women away from the drably natural look of the Maoist era and start getting them in front of their vanity units.\u00a0 She is one of several women who are sometimes tritely called \u201cChina\u2019s Oprah Winfrey.\u201d<\/p>\n Lingering at the outskirts were ageing members of the Beijing\u2019s Eurotrash contingent. The Madoff lookalikes watched proceedings with much younger companions \u2013 who were they, one wondered, and, in a city where smog forever eclipses the sun, where did they get their magnificent tans?<\/p>\n From France, perhaps: Chateaux Margaux, the prestige French label that now sees its luxury bottles knocked down and knocked off by China\u2019s emergent upper-middle classes, had put their general manager, Paul Pontalier, at Miss Universe\u2019s disposal. Thanking the contestants and describing his initial perplexity at Margaux being called a \u201cfeminine wine,\u201d Pontalier claimed he now finally understood the appellation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about beauty, elegance, subtlety, sensuality, charm\u2026 and power\u2026 we must never forget how\u00a0powerful<\/em>these women are,\u201d uttered Pontalier, who\u2019d flown in from Paris that day to offer a scene of Gallic gratitude that veered close to parody. \u201cThis is the result of gifts from nature\u2026 from genes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese women are dangerous!\u201d exclaimed Kan in response.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Prior to the foundation of the People\u2019s Republic, private \u2018beauty contests\u2019 took place in brothels \u2013 or for the benefit of emperors \u2013 on a regular basis. Mao\u2019s takeover in 1949 initially seemed quite a positive thing, at least for women\u2019s civil rights. Prostitution was outlawed, make-up and other bourgeoisie influences were condemned as unrevolutionary and women went to work next to men in the factories. Both genders were clad in the sexless \u201cMao suits\u201d that characterized the period up until 1978 \u2013 women even sewed patches on their clothes to make them look older.<\/p>\n After Deng\u2019s reforms, the old vices and new iniquities reappeared almost immediately. Prostitution returned with a vengeance \u2013 as well as its more innocent counterparts. \u201cIn fact, beauty contests in China during the 1980s were even more popularized than today,\u201d said Fang Gang, Director of the Institute of Sexuality and Gender Studies at the Beijing Forestry University and author of\u00a0Beauty Contests in China<\/em>.<\/p>\n Initially, China\u2019s Confucian streak revolted against the phenomenon. Leading the charge were the All-China Women\u2019s Federation (ACWF), who pressured lawmakers to uphold the country\u2019s traditional values, forbid any official involvement and limit media reporting on them. In 1988, Beijing Television attempted to hold the first televised contest, which was eventually cancelled, and as late as 2002, police shut down a bathing-suit pageant in southern China mid-way through, saying it was against \u2018regulations.\u2019<\/p>\n But by then, the horse had long bolted the stable and was, in fact, in the process of being groomed for international success. The state first got involved in 1991, sending a contestant to the Elite Model Look contest. The reason was perfectly simple: the government was persuaded it would boost the country\u2019s textile and fashion industry. \u201cThe power behind [them] is still economic benefit,\u201d Fang said. \u201cA beauty contest is fundamentally a business event \u2013 just look at the amount of sponsorships it claims.\u201d<\/p>\n The real turning point, though, was in 2003, when the State Tourism Administration and the Foreign Ministry approved the first government-sponsored contest. It was held, ironically enough, in Shandong Province \u2013 the birthplace of Confucius. It was also China\u2019s first Miss Universe. That year, state-owned news agency Xinhua\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0on the growing popularity of beauty pageants, quoting Li Fangran, a female clerk at Beijing Agricultural Bank, saying\u00a0\u201dShowing your beauty and slim figure in public is the freedom and right of women. It has nothing to do with moral standards.\u201d<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Miss Universe is not a competition in the usual sense: a clash between rival abilities. It\u2019s more a spot-the-difference contest, where the girl who makes one wins. Think of a Miss California heat (the audience at the final didn\u2019t have to: a soft-focus montage of weeping, white Misses Universe, recalling what seemed a bygone era, was screened intermittently throughout) and the parade of near-identikit blondes, brunettes and in-betweens,\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0boasting the same sunkissed skin and gleaming fixed smiles. Then remove those differences.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all look the same,\u201d said Emma, who accompanied me with camera, when asked who she favored. Admittedly, this\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0the bikini round, where everyone wore blue and looked tall, skinny and dazzlingly similar. Then again, we also were in the front row, which afforded the best possible viewing, as well as frathouse-style commentary from a trio of suited, white businessmen behind (\u201cShe\u2019s such a babe,\u201d observed the CEO of the Chinese arm of a major American investment bank. \u201cThat\u2019s the one with the ass,\u201d his friend vouchsafed).<\/p>\n The banker redefined his stance after he asked for Emma\u2019s number, then clocked her press badge. \u201cDon\u2019t you think this is utterly degrading to women?\u201d he suddenly wondered, before requesting anonymity. It was a question I later put to Madam Kan, to near-disastrous effect.<\/p>\n Back then, though, my thoughts were with one of the models, Aliya, a 21-year-old from Xinjiang Province studying preventative medicine at Fudan University, who I\u2019d spoken to earlier that week. Articulate and thoughtful, Aliya was not particularly concerned about actually winning (\u201cIt\u2019s a game for me. I try\u2026 but the result isn\u2019t very important,\u201d she shrugged) and defied the feminist clich\u00e9 of the docile beauty contestant, unwitting dupe to the male gaze.<\/p>\n Aliya is also a Uyghur, a Muslim in a country that, despite (often literally) boasting 56 ethnic nationalities, essentially views itself as both atheist and Han. \u201cMost Muslims don\u2019t want girls to join these competitions,\u201d she started by saying. That\u2019s a serious understatement: Islamic fundamentalists literally ran riot before the Miss World finals in 2002 in Nigeria, leaving 200 dead and 500 injured. \u201cIt\u2019s a big problem for me\u2026 I don\u2019t want to talk about it,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n I was rooting for Aliya partly because I\u2019d met her, partly because I actually recognized her on stage and partly because, as an ethnic minority, she would be an underdog, despite her looks. Beauty contests are intrinsically linked to national, ethnic and, particularly, gender identity. Such political demarcations behind images of feminine beauty are undeniable when China protests and meddles in events such as Miss Tibet and Miss Taiwan. I doubted Aliya would be able to escape the \u2018taint\u2019 of her troubled province.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to join at first because, maybe, they [the judges, presumably] don\u2019t think I\u2019m like Chinese because I\u2019m a minority\u2026 but why can\u2019t I represent my country? I am part of it and I am a different look. I can represent a different Chinese girl.\u201d Despite her noble intentions, Aliya didn\u2019t place in the top ten, though when I mention her name to Yue-Sai Kan, she enthused about her in the same rapturous terms she referred to all the others (\u201cdelicious, like an ice cream!\u201d was one memorable phrase).<\/p>\n So what were \u201cthey\u201d looking for exactly? Zhang Huan, the artist cum judge, dresses with the kind of confidence that only comes from success (or self-delusion), like a chic migrant worker, or\u00a0Brother Sharp<\/a>, the hobo who became a fashion icon in China after his picture was posted online last year. Zhang\u2019s ideal was \u201ca \u2018post-natural\u2026 combination of future and nature [where] nature, umm, refers to the concept of inner beauty\u2026 a beautiful person should have an unsophisticated sort of quality, which should be futuristic at the same time, so that it surpasses the traditional concept of simplicity\u201d \u2013 all of which makes you wonder what Zhang was doing acting as a judge for Miss Universe.<\/p>\n How did he expect anyone to measure up to this? \u201cI didn\u2019t find a beauty that met my standard today,\u201d he sighed. Could anyone, though? \u201cOh, I\u2019ve never thought about that actually\u2026 although I\u2019m sure there must be someone!\u201d<\/p>\n Luo Zilin, China’s Miss Universe entrant, after watching a surgical operation in Sao Paolo – image by Emma Zhang<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Whoever that someone was, China won\u2019t be sending her to the final. Zhang seemed fairly disappointed at the board\u2019s chosen winner, Luo Zilin, who \u201ccannot represent Chinese women today\u2026 she\u2019s too Westernized, her body, her feeling, her temperament, it\u2019s all too Westernized.\u201d<\/p>\n As for China\u2019s dreams of winning this year: \u201cNo chance.\u201d<\/p>\n Judge and Artist Zhang Huan with Miss Universe Entrant – image by Emma Zhang<\/p>\n<\/div>\n *<\/p>\n Back in 2003, many were worried about the effect beauty contests would have on society; there were particular fears that women would turn to plastic surgery, lengthening legs and widening eyes, in order to achieve Western beauty ideals. These worries turned out to be correct: in 2004, China saw its\u00a0first Miss Plastic Surgery competition<\/a>, which requires a doctor\u2019s certificate proving the work \u2013 the winner gets 50,000 Yuan ($6,000).<\/p>\n But today, Director Kan thinks Chinese women have mostly caught up with their peers in the West and are less distinguishable from them in almost every way, barring education.\u201cToday\u2019s Chinese girls\u2026 in many ways are very much like a woman in Hong Kong, Taiwan or, in some instances, America even, because they\u2019ve been exposed to the same thing,\u201d she claimed. \u201cA lot of them wear almost the same clothes\u2026 listen to the same music\u2026 but actually, when you really get down a little bit, they\u2019re actually are lacking a lot of the world view.\u201d<\/p>\n A woman of fame and influence, Kan had nevertheless been courteous enough to keep me waiting only half an hour to speak to her. Fresh from her interviews with Japanese media, she obligingly retold the story, for what must be the thousandth time, of how she built her brand like it\u2019s a fresh tale for her.<\/p>\n Despite her personal success story, though, the balance of power between the sexes in China remains almost institutionalized, especially in rural areas. In Wuhan, Hubei province in June, another, creepier type of beauty contest was taking place, one that neatly formalized this arrangement. Wealthy, single businessmen paid 99,999 yuan (US$15,435) for a\u00a0day-long \u201cdating convention\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to meet potential girlfriends. The latter\u2019s entry fee simply required they be good looking \u2013 most women chose to wear swimsuits. The men wore suits. Organizers didn\u2019t bother to defend that, arguing the women were judging the men simply by their material prospects and not their looks.<\/p>\n So beauty, like athleticism or a high net worth, simply becomes something to be traded. \u201cIt\u2019s like the Olympics,\u201d said Miss Kan of her competition. \u201cCourse it is! How many things [do] you know where the contestant can actually wear the name of Miss China, with a crown. How many competitions are there on a recent international scale? Is there any difference?\u201d<\/p>\n She argued that beauty contests are no different to athletics events (even if the event seems to be show jumping). If athletes are celebrated by virtue of their physical prowess \u2013 selling their bodies to sport, so to speak \u2013 why should her stable of starlets be treated any differently?<\/p>\n In order to prepare what she referred to as her \u201cathletes\u201d for the task, all 32 were sent to an intensive training course \u2013 \u201cBooty Camp,\u201d as a friend neatly put it \u2013 where, under Kan\u2019s oversight, they woke at 7am and worked till 11pm, learning the rigors of deportment, spoken English, posing and applying cosmetics (\u201cTheir make-up was perfect \u2013 they all used Yue-Sai cosmetics!\u201d Kan noted delightedly).<\/p>\n Yue Sai Kan and Consort – image by Emma Zhang<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The determination to regain face for the country, after so many years of failures is evident. The competition\u2019s slogan for this year patriotically proclaims \u201cCelebrating Chinese women, bringing glory to China,\u201d though, tellingly, only the first part has been translated to English. If the winner goes onto win the worldwide final in September, it will be like adding another medal to China\u2019s Olympics collection.<\/p>\n \u201cLike if an athlete gets a gold medal, what\u2019s so bad about that? She\u2019s an athlete too, we train her like a horse\u2026 what\u2019s so demeaning about that?\u201d The defensive manner was the result of a fairly innocent question posed earlier, when, after some preamble, I asked how she would have replied to the aforementioned banker, who said the contest was degrading.<\/p>\n The atmosphere got slightly less cozy. \u201cWho said that?\u201d she demanded. \u201cI don\u2019t know how this\u00a0idiot\u00a0<\/em>could have said something like that!\u201d She went on to list the charitable achievements of Rio Mori, the Japanese winner of Miss Universe 2007 who was one of this year\u2019s judges in China and Petra Nemcova, another judge and model, whose experience of the 2004 Asian tsunami inspired her to establish children\u2019s charity the Happy Hearst Trust, concluding, \u201cThere may be other events that are demeaning to women but I guarantee you, that night, I would say that 99% of people would say we elevate women to a very high point.\u201d<\/p>\n Zhang Huan also didn\u2019t think the image on display was anything but positive for his country: \u201cI think it represented the modern Chinese people\u2019s hopes and dreams of women, especially young women. I think it did.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese beauty contests are reflections of the traditional societal gender system,\u201d observed the expert, Fang. \u00a0\u201cWhatever pretty name is used, they can\u2019t cover their nature of treating women as commodities to consume and enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n The accusation didn\u2019t go away and it seemed surprising, given the cheesy reputation of Miss Universe, now run since 2002 by Trump, that it should have offended Kan so much. Was her indignation merely a front \u2013 or are Chinese values of femininity (and feminism) simply different?<\/p>\n Probably the two prevailing stereotypes of Chinese woman \u2013 in the West, at least \u2013 are the \u201cdragon lady,\u201d the kind of no-nonsense power madam recently given lease of life by the \u201cTiger Mother<\/a>\u201d controversy, and the courtesan, once epitomized by Suzy Wong and the culture of the concubine. Kan was certainly capable of breathing a little fire (\u201cThat man deserves to be\u00a0punched<\/em>!\u201d) but was otherwise very amiable. Her contestants may have smiled passively on stage but, as the case of Aliya from Xinjiang showed, most were perfectly capable of holding their own off it.<\/p>\n Perhaps one difference is a sense of pragmatism over lofty idealism. \u201cThere are lots of so-called feminist women who don\u2019t do anything,\u201d said Kan scornfully. \u201cYet Miss Universe this year raised something like\u2026 68 million dollars for [good causes]\u2026 what\u2019s wrong with that?\u201d<\/p>\n Is Kan a feminist herself? \u201cYes, but\u2026 in a different kind of sense. Everything I have done is pioneering and my success did not come because\u2026 my father is some kind of Chinese leader\u2026 everything came from zero. But I believe women should be feminine.\u201d Here she referred to a kind of traditional, Confucian ideal instilled by her mother, where women behave demurely, deferring perhaps in public but getting things done privately \u2013like building up a business empire or running global brands like Miss Universe.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why that comment was very offensive to me and it is not even correct,\u201d Kan said, still slightly fuming as we finished up. \u201cFrom the get-go, that is the\u00a0last<\/em>\u00a0thing we had in mind\u2026 How can we celebrate Chinese women if we demean Chinese women?\u201d<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n On the subject of pragmatism and material values: Miss Universe is similar to one of those quiz shows where nobody goes home empty-handed. 31 of the contestants may not make it to Sao Paolo, Brazil for the big autumn final but they still got plenty of prizes, such as cameras, shoes, clothing, make-up (no prizes for guessing whose), hi-fi equipment, dental treatment and English lessons. Include the holiday in Beijing and whirlwind of promotions and it\u2019s not such a bad return for a girl from the provinces, for a bit of bikini modeling.<\/p>\n The winner, Luo Zilin, also receives a year-long contract with YSK Promotions, which includes a \u201cpersonal chaperone,\u201d plus the trip to Brazil and she gets to keep her LukFook crown, valued (by the jeweler) at 2.8 million yuan (just under $450,000).<\/p>\n We also got to keep a little something. Back at home, I unpacked the party\u2019s goodie bag. Among the usual promotional materials (a heavy brochure from Mercedes went straight for recycling) were a large bottle of expensive foreign perfume, some lingerie, a free dental check-up at a top Beijing clinic and clothes vouchers for a women\u2019s boutique. Altogether, not a bad haul \u2013 especially if you\u2019re a woman. But that\u2019s what Miss Universe is supposed to be about: beauty as commodity, packaged and exported and thoroughly modern.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not progressive,\u201d argued gender expert Fang. \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s devolving either, because there is just no \u2018progressive\u2019 sex equality or sex recognition [in China]. I would say it\u2019s a reflection of diversity. Personally, I think even something that is academically criticised should be able to exist too. Everyone has the right to choose his or her own lifestyle, which includes being appreciated, consumed or even purchased.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The band was playing\u00a0Cocaine\u00a0as the small entourage entered but it was highly doubtful any of them would ever touch the stuff: these were international representatives of China, \u201cathletes\u201d in a land of contradictions, competing for fresh spoils. After years of … Continue reading ![\"Luo](\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20111231084109im_\/http:\/\/www.danwei.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/luo-zilin-in-sao-paolo.jpg\" "\\"Luo")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Judge](\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20111231084109im_\/http:\/\/www.danwei.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Zhang-Huan-and-model-s.jpg\" "\\"Judge")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Yue](\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20111231084109im_\/http:\/\/www.danwei.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Yue-Sai-Kan-and-consort-s.jpg\" "\\"Yue")
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