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.
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