One of my deepest secret fantasy as a child was becoming a beauty queen; a glamorous star who shines above the rest. But then again, fantasy has no collaboration whatsoever with reality. I was pretty much akward when I was growing up. I was ungraceful, looked anorexic, with glasses and not exactly the kind of girl any beauty pageant organization would even consider taking in. I was the Ugly Duckling and a late bloomer.

Akwardness aside, I grew up fine regardless and enjoyed plenty of opportunities to actually watch beauty pageant live, in person and the most recent one is the Miss Chinese International Pageant 2017.

Miss Chinese International Pageant 2017 were held in Arena of Stars at Resorts World Genting in collaboration with TVB and MY.fm as the official media partner. All of the contestants came from different backgrounds, countries and regions but each and every one of them shared one common trait; which is the Chinese Heritage.

Graced glamorous panel of judges; Mr. Simon Yam, Mr.Wayne Lai, Ms. Niki Chow, Dato’ Nancy Yeoh and Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, the event were literally taken a few notch higher with the contestants fiercely showcasing their grace, beauty, talent and intelligence to impress the judges.

Below are contestants’ lineup list in their choice of National Costumes :

Contestant no 1: Christina Liu, Auckand

Contestant no 2: Gam Wonglappanich, Bangkok

Contestant no 3: Crystal Fung, Hong Kong

Contestant no 4: Addy Lee, Johannesburg

Contestant no 5: Serene Lim, Kuala Lumpur

Contestant no 6: Lili Qu, Los Angeles

Contestant no 7: Janne Zeng, Manila

Contestant no 8: Gloria Rong, Melbourne

Contestant no 9: Bella Li, Foshan

Contestant no 10: Alice Zhang, Montreal

Contestant no 11: Stitch Yu, New York

Contestant no 12: Steph Wong, San Francisco

Contestant no 13: Lovelle Cengya, Singapore

Contestant no 14: Emily Yu, Sydney

Contestant no 15: Gloria Li, Toronto

Contestant no 16: Maria Rincon, Vancouver

After rounds of judging in all aspects of the common pageant competition, the winners that emerged are as follow:

Winner of Miss Chinese International Pageant 2017- Stitch Yu, New York

First Runner Up- Serene Lim, Kuala Lumpur

Second Runner up- Crystal Fung, Hong Kong

Miss Friendship- Addy Lee, Johannesberg

The cross culture and friendship fostering event was one of the largest international beauty pageant and it has no doubt add to the glamour and excitement in the city of entertainment, Resorts World Genting. Watching pageants live is always a breathtaking experience to me, and I sure hope there’ll be more opportunities for this in the future.