Posted on: Friday, June 14, 2002

Model represents 'modern' China

By Kapono Dowson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Zhuo Ling last month became China's first representative in the Miss Universe pageant. She finished second runner-up. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Her retinue wore traditional Chinese ceremonial clothing of embroidered silks and tall crowns, but Miss China Zhuo Ling walked into a Honolulu news conference yesterday in a blue halter-top sun dress.

Zhuo, who last month became the first person from the People's Republic of China in the Miss Universe pageant, said she entered the contest because she wanted to represent "modern" China.

"This was the first time a Chinese girl stood on the world stage to display China's beauty," said Chen Yifei, publisher of the Chinese fashion magazine "Vision" and Zhuo's modeling coach. He said the Miss Universe event was a significant event for China.

Zhuo, a nearly 6-foot-tall native of Ning Bo in Shanghai Province, was the second runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant, staged last month in Puerto Rico.

She is in Honolulu as part of a U.S. tour sponsored by the Organization of Chinese Americans and the California-based charity group Self-Help for the Elderly.

Zhuo and models in Chen's agency will participate in a fashion show tonight at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. The event will raise money for the Organization of Chinese Americans scholarship program and national convention here next year, and for Self-Help for the Elderly.

Zhuo said one of the challenges in being her country's first international beauty pageant competitor was "there was no one to help, or teach or show" her how to compete. She said she plans to go back to China after her modeling duties have finished to help train next year's contestants.

"China is steadily moving on to the international stage — maturing. Shanghai is totally transformed," said Anni Chung, president of Self-Help for the Elderly. "Zhuo is a modern, beautiful, cosmopolitan girl who reflects well the recent development in China."

Chung said China's acceptance into the World Trade Organization last November, its winning bid to be the host nation for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Zhuo's high finish in the Miss Universe contest illustrate China's transformation.

University of Hawai'i professor Ying-Che Li called the changes in China "amazing." Li, who teaches historical and comparative Chinese, said China has moved from a Maoist tradition of communism to a market economy in the past 30 years.

Reach Kapono Dowson at kdowson@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8103.