This Day, That Year

40 years on

Editor’s Note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy.

The first Beijing Beauty Contest made headlines 30 years ago, as seen in an item published on April 25, 1988, in China Daily (right). Since then, the beauty pageant market has recorded significant development. Attitudes toward physical appearance have also changed.

In 2003, China hosted the finals of the Miss World pageant — one of four major global contests — in Sanya, Hainan province. It was the first international pageant of its kind to be held in China.

The Crowne Plaza Sanya, the host hotel for the event, brought in 100 million yuan ($15.9 million) in revenue that year and took the lead in both room rates and occupancy rates among the elbow-to-elbow luxury properties that line Yalong Bay.

Foreign tourists have been swarming in, the hotel said.

The city has hosted seven Miss World pageants, as well as New Silk Road model competitions in the new millennium.

In 2007, model and actress Zhang Zilin, then 23, became the first Chinese woman to win an international beauty competition — Miss World.

More than 100 of the pageants are held nationwide every year, fueled in part by rapid economic growth, according to sociologists and industry analysts.

The success in Sanya has spurred other local governments across the country to tap beauty pageants to help boost tourism.