Miss Universe China () is a national beauty pageant that selects China's representative to the Miss Universe pageant since 2002.
History The Miss Universe China Organization was established in 2002. The first ever Miss Universe China titleholder, Zhuo Ling, was selected in Guangdong province in March, 2002. She represented her country in Miss Universe 2002 and placed 2nd runner-up.
In July 2002, the Miss Universe license for China was awarded to Johnny Kao, a prominent Chinese-American entrepreneur and businessman. The organization held the Miss Universe China pageant for the next few years.
On January 6, 2011, the Miss Universe Organization designated media icon and entrepreneur Yue-Sai Kan as the official licensee for the People's Republic of China. Miss Universe officials and the then-reigning titleholder, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico, traveled to China to award the license to Kan. In her first year, Yue-Sai Kan set up an international calibre pageant, flying in foreign celebrities including Petra Nemcova, Fadil Berisha and Riyo Mori to headline and launching a multimillion-dollar production with major corporate sponsors. In subsequent years, the pageant has raised millions of dollars for China's national charities as well as Kan's China Beauty Charity Foundation. Celebrities including Paris Hilton and Charles Aznavour have participated in the pageant, and former Harper's Bazaar chief Lizzette Kattan provides styling for each year's candidates. Celebrity makeup artist Yuko Takahashi, ruwnay trainer Lu Sierra and DIBS Beauty CEO Jeff Lee have historically prepared the most successful winners in advance of the Miss Universe finals.
Under Yue-Sai Kan, the Miss Universe China Organization conducts a national search for its titleholder, consisting of a combination of regional preliminaries in major cities and provinces and direct auditions. Contestants and titleholders are trained for both the Miss China and Miss Universe competitions by an international panel of experts who prepare them in a wide range of areas, including media skills, presentation, makeup and English lessons. Winners of the Miss Universe China pageant receive one of the most valuable national crowns in the world, a diamond and ruby-encrusted tiara from Luk Fook valued at over US$430,000, as well as wardrobes supplied by Shanghai Tang, Sherri Hill, LOVA and leading Chinese couturier Guo Pei and professional modeling portfolios. They are also invited to walk for various designers at New York Fashion Week and Shanghai Fashion Week and receive red carpet invitations to the Shanghai International Film Festival and Hawaii International Film Festival.
Nearly every contestant fielded by Kan since she began heading the pageant has brought home an award from the Miss Universe finals, including three finalists and two special awards.
In 2017, Jacky Fan, Xin Fu Lai Enterprise Management Co., LTD. took over Miss Universe China Organization. There will be 33 Regional Competitions happening across the country domestically, 1 Online Regional Competition Area, and 1 Overseas Special Audition happening in the US.
In 2021, Li Xiaoning, took over the Miss Universe China Organization as the new president along with the return of Yue-Sai Kan as official Honorary Chairman.
Formats Miss China beauty pageant is traditionally holding provincial representation every year. The 21 provinces across China will compete for the crown. In the final result, there will be Second Runner-up, First Runner-up, then finally Miss China winner.
Miss Anhui Miss Fujian Miss Gansu Miss Guangdong Miss Guizhou Miss Hainan Miss Hebei
Miss Heilongjiang Miss Hubei Miss Hunan Miss Jiangsu Miss Jiangxi Miss Jilin Miss Liaoning
Miss Qinghai Miss Shaanxi Miss Shandong Miss Shanxi Miss Sichuan Miss Yunnan Miss Zhejiang
Documentary In 2014, the contest was the subject of a documentary series, "Finding Miss China" (寻找中国美), produced by Jonathan Finnigan and Lucky Devil Films of Singapore. The documentary featured three of the Miss Universe China 2014 contestants from their recruitment to their training and official visit to Colombo to meet Sri Lanka's first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa. The six online episodes of the documentary attracted over ten million viewers in their first month.
Titleholders
On occasion, when the winner does not qualify (due to age) a runner-up is sent.
YearProvinceMiss ChinaSimplified ChineseTraditional ChinesePlacement at Miss UniverseSpecial awardsNotesYue-Sai Kan ownership & Li Xiaoning directorship — a franchise holder to Miss Universe from 2020 2026 Shanghai Wang Shiqi 王诗琪 王詩琪 TBA 2025 Shandong Zhao Na 赵娜 趙娜 Top 12 Miss Universe Asia 2024 Sichuan Jia Qi 贾琪 賈琪 Top 30 Jia Qi was Miss China 2023, she withdrew from Miss Universe 2023 and allocated to Miss Universe 2024 in Mexico. 2023 colspan=7 2022 Shanghai Jiang Sichen 姜思晨 姜思晨 Unplaced 2021 Zhejiang Yang Shiyin 杨诗尹 楊詩尹 Unplaced 2020 Beijing Sun Jiaxin 孙嘉欣 孫嘉欣 Unplaced Jacky Fan (Xin Fu Lai Enterprise Management Co., LTD.) directorship — a franchise holder to Miss Universe between 2017―2019 2019 Hebei Zhu Xin 朱鑫 朱鑫 Unplaced 2018 Liaoning Qin Meisu 秦美苏 秦美蘇 Unplaced The second runner-up of Miss China 2017 awarded as Miss China 2018. 2017 Sichuan Qiu Qiang 邱蔷 邱薔 Top 16 Dethroned after competing at Miss Universe 2017.Yue-Sai Kan directorship — a franchise holder to Miss Universe between 2011―2016 2016 Zhejiang Li Zhenying 李珍颖 李珍穎 Unplaced 2015 Guangdong Xue Yunfang 薛韵芳 薛韻芳 Unplaced Best National Costume (4th Runner-up) 2014 Beijing Hu Yanliang 胡彦良 胡彦良 Unplaced Yanliang was a runner-up of Miss China 2014. She competed at Miss Universe, after her winner decided to withdraw at Miss Universe 2014. Henan Xu Naiqing 许乃蜻 許乃蜻 colspan=2 Resigned before competing at Miss Universe, Xu Naiqing resigned her title to complete her undergraduate education and was succeeded by Hu Yanliang. 2013 Beijing Jin Ye 靳烨 靳燁 Top 16 Miss Congeniality 2012 Jilin Xu Jidan 许继丹 許繼丹 Unplaced Best National Costume 2011 Shanghai Luo Zilin 罗紫琳 羅紫琳 4th Runner-up Johnny Kao directorship — a franchise holder to Miss Universe between 2002―2010 2010 Heilongjiang Tang Wen 唐雯 唐雯 Unplaced 2009 Shandong Wang Jingyao 王静瑶 王靜瑤 Unplaced Miss Congeniality 2008 Guizhou Wei Ziya 魏子雅 魏子雅 Unplaced 2007 Liaoning Zhang Ningning 张宁宁 張寧寧 Unplaced Miss Congeniality Zhang was a runner-up of Miss China 2007, after the main winner, Wei Ziya allocated to Miss Universe 2008. 2006 Heilongjiang Gao Yinghui 高英慧 高英慧 Unplaced Qi Fang was replaced by Gao Yinghui as the official representative to Miss Universe 2006. Shanxi Qi Fang 齐芳 齊芳 colspan=3 2005 Sichuan Tao Siyuan 陶思媛 陶思媛 Unplaced 2004 Tianjin Zhang Meng 张萌 張萌 Unplaced 2003 Fujian Wu Wei 吴薇 吳薇 Unplaced 2002 Shanghai Zhuo Ling 卓灵 卓靈 2nd Runner-up
See also Miss China World Miss International China Miss Grand China Miss Earth China
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Other references
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