A contest where intelligence is the real winner

In November, as a postgraduate representative of the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate, she gave a speech on how youth can contribute to sustainable development.

"I regard Miss China as a representative of the spirit and sense of responsibility of Chinese youth," Wang says. "The contest is about much more than being tall and beautiful. With or without makeup I am the same person. ... I hope I can make a difference by combining the mission of Miss China with mine."

Another contestant in Foshan intent on breaking stereotypes was Zhao Yulin, 28, of Hubei province, a PhD student in astrophysics at Peking University, who conducts research on supermassive black holes and their host galaxies of quasars.

"The contest slogan 'Beauty with a purpose' touched me," she says. "Many people think women with a PhD are charmless nerds, and I want to prove them wrong."

Challenging social conventions "is a habit". She has a second-degree black belt in karate and once hitchhiked 1,500 kilometers from Rome to Berlin. She also teaches in charity education programs for children of migrant workers supported by the Institute of Physics. During the early rounds of the event in Beijing, she found that this was "not just another beauty pageant". Zhao says: "A lot of importance was attached to my talents and my charity experience, and as I grew in confidence I behaved better in training and became more and more content with my inner self."

Su Wenbin, chairman of the event's organizing committee and executive director and general manager of the New Silk Road (Beijing) Model Management Co Ltd, says: "A lot of bewildering beauty pageants may have left people with the impression that appearance is all that matters in these contests. But for us, cultural confidence is important.