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| East Asia |
| China Opens Doors for Miss World Pageant |
| 2003-12-04 |
| EFL: It looms above the palm trees, gleaming like a tiara - the $12 million convention hall built for a Miss World pageant that this picturesque but poor Chinese city hopes will put it on the global tourism map. On Thursday, factory worker Wang Qiuyan gazed at the building in wonder, soaking it all in. "It looks like an emperor’s crown," said Wang, 20, who came from out of town for the pageant. She couldn’t afford a ticket but wanted to be in Sanya anyway for the excitement of the pageant finals Saturday. Sanya is China’s southernmost city, a palm-shaded resort on Hainan Island - dubbed "China’s Hawaii" by boosters - some 2,700 miles southwest of Beijing. Though Hainan attracts millions of mostly Chinese visitors a year to its golf courses and sugar-white beaches, most here still make their living farming or fishing. Sanya has invested millions to host Miss World, the first such international competition in China and the latest in the country’s efforts to become a global player. "It is a milestone in the development of Chinese culture," said Sanya Mayor Chen Ci at a press conference. "We did spend quite a lot of money, but the consequence will be huge. It will have a positive influence on the city’s future." The city of 500,000 people has spent $31 million repaving and repairing roads, highways and bridges, the mayor said. He said that would help with other sporting and business events held on the island. Investment in infrastructure is always a good idea. Under China’s tight security, the competition seems unlikely to experience the upheaval that it did last year in Nigeria. That contest was hastily moved to London after more than 200 people were killed in rioting between Muslims and Christians. The fighting erupted after a Nigerian newspaper suggested the Muslim prophet Muhammad would have approved of the Miss World pageant - and might have wanted to marry a contestant. Most contestants are a little old for..., sorry, cheap shot. In one Sanya neighborhood filled with Muslims of China’s Hui minority, many said the pageant and the hubbub surrounding it didn’t affect them. No one seemed too upset at the contest, though a few dismissed it as irrelevant. "It doesn’t interfere with our beliefs," said Hai Yelong, a 60-year-old Muslim pedicab driver. Besides, he said of the contestants, "Everyone likes to see them." You got that right. Unless, of course, you’re a total wackjob. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 Besides, he said of the contestants, "Everyone likes to see them." Where there's Hope there's sex. No wait, the other way around, where there's sex there's Hope. Aren't hospital ships great? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-4 3:39:10 PM |