BEIJING — China gave a cheer to its first
Miss World on Sunday, with Internet chat rooms filled with
praise for the 23-year-old beauty queen.
Zhang Zilin, a Beijing secretary who was born
in the gritty northern industrial city of Shijiazhuang, scooped
the title late on Saturday on the southern Chinese resort island
of Hainan.
A blog by Zhang on the Web portal Sina.com
had over 1 million hits as of Sunday, with many fans posting
their congratulations.
"You’ve brought honor to our country! We’re
all happy for you! We’re proud for China!" wrote a fan named
"Tango."
Long frowned upon by Beijing’s Communist
leadership, beauty pageants and other such contests have become
hugely popular over the past several years. Many local
television stations organize contests for everything from
amateur TV anchors to models to American Idol-style singing
contests.
Still, the government has tried to keep a
check on them, banning television talent shows in prime time and
telling anchors and contestants not to behave provocatively.
Newspapers ran only brief reports on Zhang’s
conquest.
The front page of the Beijing News, a popular
daily in the capital, was dominated by a large photo of a
migrant worker taking part in an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign,
with a much smaller photo of Zhang at the bottom of the page.
Micaela Reis of Angola came second and Carolina Moran
Gordillo of Mexico was third, according to the pageant’s Web
site. – Reuters
