Saturday evening in Sanya, the capital of south China’s Hainan Island, a 23-year-old Beijing girl became the first Chinese winner of the international Miss World pageant, and in doing so, added fuel to my theory that China only wins competitions that don’t involve teams. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a Chinese team win anything? Yet, Chinese individuals — in gymnastics, weight-lifting, diving and now beauty — seem to win all the time. Zhang Zilin, a full-time (though probably now former) office assistant, beat out 105 other contestants to be crowned the 57th Miss World, one of three global beauty titles along with Miss Universe and Miss Earth. Apparently, “Miss Thang” is not internationally recognized. While fireworks exploded over Hainan Island in celebration of the first ever Chinese Miss World, to some, the legitimacy of China’s victory is questionable. This isn’t to say that Miss Zhang is not gorgeous. I would let her be my secretary any day. But as China has paid nearly $4 million USD annually for the last five years to host the pageant in Sanya and finance the organization running the competition, perhaps the judges decided to reward China with a title. Furthermore, this year’s pageant served as a big old advertisement for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As an estimated 2 billion people worldwide watch the Miss World pageant, China saw Miss World as an opportunity to spread the Olympic spirit around the globe. According to a Telegraph story Saturday, the Chinese government “strongly suggested” the contestants sing the Olympic torch relay anthem during the event. The chairwoman of the Miss World Organization said of the song, ““We were asked to do it and we were happy to be part of it. They didn’t say, ‘You have to do it’.” Sounds like she’s been in China too long. While it’s unclear whether the fix was in, China surely stands to benefit from having a Chinese Miss World trotting around the globe drumming up support for the Olympics. And she’ll probably do this job really well. As long as she doesn’t join any sort of Chinese team.

•Telegraph: China Wins Miss World 2007 Title

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