Miss Peru Crowned as Miss World-2004

SANYA (China): Miss Peru, Maria Julia Mantilla Garcia, was chosen Miss World 2004 on Saturday, ahead of contestants from the Dominican Republic and the United States at a beauty pageant held in China for the second time.

Mantilla Garcia, 20, beat Claudia Julissa Cruz-Rodriguez, 18, from the Dominican Republic and Nancy Randall, 24, from the United States to take the crown.

This year's contest, held in the resort town of Sanya in the tropical island province of Hainan, saw 107 beauty queens parade their looks and talents at the Beauty Crown Theatre.

Style of Selection

For the first time, Miss World hopefuls had to use their charms and youthful beauty to impress millions of television viewers worldwide who picked the winner via telephone, SMS text and Internet voting.

Previously the winner was chosen by a panel of judges.

This year's winner will replace the current holder of the crown, Miss Ireland Rosanna Davison, daughter of "Lady in Red" pop crooner Chris de Burgh.

Recap

Miss World organiser Julia Morley announced Friday that the 55th contest next year would return to the beach resort for the third consecutive year, following the controversy and sectarian violence that marred the 2002 event in Nigeria.

Beauty contests like Miss World have long been ridiculed and attacked in the West as degrading, but in China where anything from the West is synonymous with progress, they represent freedom and openness.

Even before China officially lifted a 54-year ban on beauty contests last year, they were taking place in disguised forms. Since the official endorsement, a pageant craze has swept the country.

For a population that for decades lived under the iron grip of communist ideology which saw beauty contests as bourgeois and decadent, people regard their return as another sign of the country's loosening of social controls and waning political interference.

To many Chinese people, beauty contests are also a matter of China's growing national pride.

Event of the Year

For residents of Sanya, the contest emerged as the event of the year.

Three weeks ago, thousands turned out to cheer the arrival of the beauty queens as a colourful parade was put on in which traditional dancers and drummers helped brighten up the normally quiet town.

"It's great for Sanya, to let the whole world know about us... Sanya used to be such a desolate place," retired teacher Chen He, 72, said.

"This is the Chinese people's pride, and will make us more famous in the world. Development is surely a good thing," said Liu Wenxiang, a 64-year-old shop keeper.

Sanya is reminiscent of many other Southeast Asian tourist destinations with gleaming white beaches and azure ocean contrasting with lush rising green hills.

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