Zhang's burning desire
Updated: 2007-12-07 07:15
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On Tuesday, 6:30 am London time, a young, slim and tall Chinese woman landed at London's Heathrow airport. As she approached Customs, she was stopped and asked the usual question: "What is the purpose of your visit to the United Kingdom?"
As the woman quietly took out a copy of the Telegraph, which she had just received on the flight from Hong Kong to London, the officer immediately made the connection to the smiling face on the front page next to the headline, "China Wins Miss World 2007 Title."
"I am Miss World," answered Zhang Zilin, the 23-year-old Beijing model and the first Chinese to win the title.
Zhang took the crown ahead of 105 of the world's most beautiful and talented women at the 57th Miss World contest on December 1 in Sanya, the southern resort island of South China's Hainan Province. At 182 cm (6 feet), Zhang was also the pageant's tallest contestant.
Three days after the awards ceremony, Zhang embarked on her one-year journey as Miss World with London, the headquarters of the Miss World pageant, being the first stop. There Zhang will attend a grand fund-raising event for the Variety Children's Charity and a fashion shoot for one of the biggest local magazines.
Back in her home country, despite her absence, the sensation stirred by her coronation on home soil is yet to subside.
Internet chat rooms are filled with praise for the beauty queen. At the same time, a blog by Zhang on the Web portal Sina.com saw more than one million hits as of last Sunday, with many fans posting their congratulations.
While the Chinese exult, "you've brought honor to our country! We're all happy for you! We're proud for China!" as expressed by a fan named "Tango", for Westerners such as Michel Deval, the result is like a long awaited news.
"Finally, Miss World is from China She is a beauty with a sweet innocent look. That is what the Miss World contest should be about - sweet innocent beauties, the demure look," he writes.
Unable to reach Zhang personally, many fans have sent their congratulations to Zhang's friends, former classmates and family members.
Xuan Wucheng, Zhang's former college classmate, says he received dozens of messages from friends and acquaintances the day after Zhang's triumph, which typically read: "Do you know the news? Your classmate was crowned Miss World. You are so lucky to have once shared the same classroom with her."
Zhang's mother, Liu Shuping, a professor at a local university in Beijing, has been bombarded with calls and messages from envious friends and parents, asking "how did you raise such an excellent daughter"?
Zhang was born in her mother's hometown of Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, and grew up in Beijing. She is remembered as a top student, an awarding-winning amateur athlete and a part-time model before she went into full-time professional modeling after graduating from college with a degree in business administration.
"She has always been a lot taller than her peers since her childhood," says her mother.
"The extra height has, on the one hand, given me a lot of confidence, and on the other, constantly reminded me to have good manners as I would always be spotted easily in a crowd," Zhang told China Daily.
Her height has also contributed to her excellence in sports and Zhang says the 100-meter hurdles and triple jump are her favorites. She started training in both of these at the age of 8. Throughout her school years, Zhang was an inter-city champion in the 100-meter hurdles and triple jump.
At the same time, she maintained good grades that enabled her to enter the Beijing Science and Technology University, one of the China's high-profile universities, in 2002.
Like most of her peers, Zhang says she wants to pursue graduate studies and find a job that she will really enjoy.
"Becoming Miss World was not even a dream," Zhang says. She recalls the first time she watched the Miss World contest. It was in 2003, when it was first held in China and Zhang was 18.
"I thought it was fantastic," she says. "I knew then that I wanted to be part of it."
By then Zhang had been modeling part-time for about a year, and her talent on the T-stage was well known. She was chosen first runner-up in the 2003 national model contest organized by New Silk Road, China's most established and biggest modeling agency.
However, Zhang says she had never thought of becoming Miss World. In fact, even the idea of becoming Miss China was more a fantasy than a dream.
Yet she set out on the journey to achieve it. By 2006, Zhang had also emerged as one of China's top 10 models.
However, as late as this summer, Zhang was still unsure of whether she should sign up for the upcoming Miss World contest. In her blog, where she shares her modeling experience and emotional encounters with a growing number of fans, she raised a question for herself: "How good should a woman be to represent China on a global stage?"
Unsure about the answer, she hesitated. In the end, with encouragement of family, friends and thousands of fans, Zhang decided to give it a try.
The rest is history.
On September 18, Zhang was placed second in the Beijing selection, which entitled her to enter the national finals. Zhang was happy but not completely satisfied. "I have to work harder," she says.
On October 29, she was crowned Miss China - the fantasy had turned into a reality. Zhang was delirious with joy but did not allow the success to go to her head. With just three days to the Miss World finals, the Beijing girl wrote in her blog: "There is no more wonderful experience than to step into one's dream through one's best efforts. Whatever comes after, are all blessings and gifts from heaven."
Yet by the time she was onstage at the finals of the Miss World and introduced as "Zilin Zhang from the People's Republic of China," Zhang says she could confidently say, "I am good enough to represent China on a global stage."
With that confidence, Zhang shone through till the end of the competition. She emerged as the pre-contest favorite with British bookmakers, along with Miss Dominican Republic.
On December 1, the Beijing model's elegant wave to her fans when the results were announced, were seen by an estimated 2 billion viewers around the globe.
While most were floored by her elegant composure at her success, her mother was not surprised. "That's my girl," she says.
According to Liu, 12 years of sports training has given her daughter the ability to face failure and success with equanimity.
"No competition is as simple as sports to tell you who is the winner. Through the years, I've experienced as many successes as failures," Zhang says.
She adds that it was sports that taught her: No pains, no gains.
Not surprisingly, in the application for the Miss World 2007, Zhang wrote down her motto as: "Where there is a will, there is a way."
Looking back on the past few months, Zhang say she is indebted to her mother, who has constantly reminded her that, "Study and constant learning are the quickest way to perfection."
This has, in fact, influenced her belief that "the shine of outer beauty is constantly powered by inner knowledge and intelligence."
"Moreover, modelling is widely known as a youth profession. I've got to prepare myself for the future," she says. Zhang says that is why she persevered and finished her college studies despite her great success in modeling in earlier years.
Talking of the upcoming year, Zhang says she will do her best to fulfill her duty as Miss World, which will include visiting and raising funds for children in poverty-stricken areas.
An amateur athlete and a Beijing native, Zhang has long cherished a desire to be part of the Olympic Games. "I longed to be a member of the torch relay team," says the newly crowned Miss World. "I would be really glad if I could be part of the Olympics in any way. Now as a Miss World, I see better prospects for that."
"If you ask me what I am most happy about being Miss World, I would say: It allows me more opportunities to support more meaningful causes," says Zhang.
(China Daily 12/07/2007 page18)
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