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Miss World contest begins in China
 
 
  
 
 AFP - Sunday, October 31
 
 
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 Miss World contest begins in China
 
 
 
 
 
 
SANYA, China (AFP) - – More than 100 beautiful women from across the globe took to a glittering white stage in sultry evening gowns on Saturday in the Chinese resort town of Sanya to vie for the Miss World crown.
 
The pageant got off to a colourful start with a performance by dancers and drummers from China's Li ethnic minority group, who mainly live on southern Hainan island, which was hosting the event for the fifth time in eight years.
 
The 115 women on the stage -- diamond-shaped in honour of the pageant's 60th anniversary -- earned a warm welcome, but Hong Kong's Cheung Sau Man received the biggest cheer from the audience in the 2,000-capacity Beauty Crown Theatre.
 
British bookmaker William Hill has listed Norway's Mariann Birkedal, a 23-year-old blue-eyed brunette who earned an automatic spot in the final by clinching the preliminary Top Model title, as the hot favourite for the crown.
 
A win for Norway could cause a stir in Beijing, where the government is furious that the Oslo-based Nobel committee awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
 
William Hill listed Birkedal's odds of winning at 6/5, followed by Alexandria Mills of the United States and Yara Santiago of Puerto Rico, both at 7/1.
 
Before the contestants whirled in national costume for the "Dances of the World" segment, viewers were treated to a video montage of the women's month-long tour of China -- from the Great Wall to the shopping mall.
 
The competition, which was first held in 1951, annually rakes in a global television audience of about a billion viewers.
 
"Miss World has a special relationship with Sanya and there is no better place to begin our 60th year celebrations," the pageant's co-chairwoman Julia Morley said on the official website.
 
The competition, judged by seven former Miss Worlds including 1953 winner Denise Perrier Lanfranchi of France, will see the reigning glamour queen, Kaiane Aldorino of Gibraltar, relinquish her throne.
 
The event rivals the Miss Universe pageant owned by US tycoon Donald Trump, which was won by Mexico's Jimena Navarrete in August.
 
The Miss World competition emphasises the importance of charity work.
 
Miss "Beauty with a Purpose" -- Kenya's Natasha Metto, who has worked on combatting an epidemic of parasitic Jigger fleas in her country -- is one of several contestants to earn "fast-track" spots in the final with mini-titles.
 
Along with "Top Model" Birkedal, Santiago booked her place with the Beach Beauty title, and Ireland's violin-playing Emma Waldron won the talent contest.
 
Lori Moore of Northern Ireland, a 20-year-old hockey and netball enthusiast, also secured her spot by taking the Sportswoman crown.
 
In 1951, Sweden's Kiki Hakansson became the first Miss World. Oscar-winning American actress Halle Berry was a finalist in 1986.
 
Venezuela and India have produced the most Miss Worlds, with five titleholders each. Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai took the crown in 1994.
 
In 2002, the pageant was moved from Nigeria to Britain after more than 200 people died in clashes sparked when a newspaper suggested the Muslim prophet Mohammed would have chosen a wife from among the contestants had he been alive.
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
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