Miss China crowned Miss World

China gave a cheer to its first Miss World on Sunday, with internet chat rooms filled with praise for the 23-year-old beauty queen. Zhang Zilin, a Beijing secretary who was born in the gritty northern industrial city of Shijiazhuang, scooped the title late on Saturday on the southern Chinese resort island of Hainan. A blog by Zhang on the web portal Sina.com had over 1 million hits as of Sunday, with many fans posting their congratulations. "You've brought honour to our country! We're all happy for you! We're proud for China!" wrote a fan named "Tango".

Long frowned upon by Beijing's Communist leadership, beauty pageants and other such contests have become hugely popular over the past several years. Many local television stations organise contests for everything from amateur TV anchors to models to American Idol-style singing contests. Still, the government has tried to keep a check on them, banning television talent shows in prime time and telling anchors and contestants not to behave provocatively. Newspapers ran only brief reports on Zhang's conquest. The front page of the Beijing News, a popular daily in the capital, was dominated by a large photo of a migrant worker taking part in an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, with a much smaller photo of Zhang at the bottom of the page. Micaela Reis of Angola came second and Carolina Moran Gordillo of Mexico was third, according to the pageant's website.

Miss China 2007 Zhang Zi Lin

Miss China 2007 Zhang Zi Lin was crowned as the Miss World 2007 much to the delight of her Chinese fans at Sanya China today.

Zhang Zi Lin is 23 years old. She was widely tipped to take the Miss World 2007 crown. The other favourite was Miss Malaysia. Zhang Zi Lin took second place at yesterday's Miss Beach Beauty contest, while Miss Dominican Republic took first prize.

The finalists, announced a few hours prior to the main event were Miss Angola, Miss China, Miss Mexico, Miss Trinidad and Tobago and Miss Sweden.

The top ten were Angola, Austria, China PR, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Grenada, Hong Kong China, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago, United States and Venezuela.

Zhang Zilin - Miss World 2007

Pre-contest favourite Miss China won the Miss World 2007 title in her own country late Saturday, much to the delight of the audience, in front of an estimated two billion viewers around the globe.

Twenty-three-year-old Zhang Zilin was crowned the winner in Sanya, China. Miss Angola came second and Miss Mexico third at the beauty pageant, held on the southern holiday island of Hainan, dubbed China's answer to Hawaii.

Viewers in 200 countries were expected to tune in to watch the show, which saw Miss China take the crown ahead of 105 of the world's most beautiful and talented women. The audience in the 2,000-capacity Beauty Crown Theatre, specially built for when Sanya first hosted the event in 2003, roared in delight as Zhang was crowned the winner at the end of the two-hour-long contest, which was conducted mainly in English. The secretary from Beijing was the pre-contest favourite with British bookmakers, along with Miss Dominican Republic. At 182 centimetres (six feet), Zhang was also the tallest contestant. "There are 1.3 billion people behind me," she said during the interview stage of the contest, referring to China's population. "If I win I want to become a link between the Olympic Games (in Beijing next year) and the Miss World Organisation."

"I want to use the power and beauty of Miss World to support those in need," she said, speaking throughout in hesitant English, adding a few words in Chinese. Zhang earlier told the contest her favourite pasttimes were the 100-metre hurdles and the high jump. Fireworks exploded above the crown-shaped theatre, where visitors had paid up to 300 dollars for tickets, after the popular decision was made.

Miss Mexico had also been strongly fancied, while Miss Angola was an outsider. "I want to tell you that I am a strong woman and also a dreamer girl and I don't accept failures in my life," Carolina Moran Gordillo, Miss Mexico, said earlier in the contest.
"This is my dream and I worked very very hard to get here," the 19-year-old student added.
Portuguese-born Miss Angola, Micaela Reis, 18, said she wanted to win the coveted crown so she could spread awareness about AIDS/HIV.
Contestants were rated on an array of disciplines including physical fitness, style, dress, personality and beauty.
The 106 were whittled down to 16, then five, with hotly tipped Miss Dominican Republic not making the final five despite strong support from the mainly Chinese crowd.
The 57th edition of the contest was being held on World AIDS Day as organisers wanted the annual showcase of gloss and glitz, seen by critics as a sexist throwback, to help increase awareness of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
To underline their commitment to AIDS awareness, organisers invited former South African president Nelson Mandela's eldest daughter Maki to serve on the panel of nine judges.
The Noble laureate's son Makgatho died of an AIDS-related illness in 2005, and the family has since been active in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
As well as being held on World AIDS Day, Miss World 2007 came a week after Chinese state media reported hotels in Beijing have been ordered to stock condoms in every room in response to a spike in new HIV infections in the capital.