A contest where intelligence is the real winner

"We gauge contestants on talent, intelligence, team spirit and other things, through various tasks, such as movie shooting, striding down catwalks and group dancing, and endeavor to improve their artistic aesthetic taste. We are looking for representatives of China's youth."

The runner-up in this year's contest, Chi Lihan, 23, who studies accounting for a master's degree at Northeast Agricultural University in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, says: "The contest is going to be a turning point in my life. I found what I'm good at and passionate about, and saw other possibilities for my career."

Chi did a one-year part-time course in model training when she was 16, and was once keen on becoming a professional model, something her parents opposed. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in social work, she worked as a volunteer teacher in Altay, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and set up a course aimed at helping middle school students improve their bearing and gain a greater appreciation of aesthetic taste.

"In the future I want to do more charity work creatively with my passion for the fashion industry," she says.

Another of the finalists, Chen Xin, 19, who studies at Beijing Sport University, says: "I could never have gained so much confidence and friendship other than in this contest."

There were many surprises in this year's contestants, Su says. "It is not the contest that defines them, but they who decide exactly what Miss China means."

He Ying, a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of Tsinghua University's Institute for Cultural Economy, says: "As China's economic strength grows, soft power needs to keep abreast of it. Strengthening Chinese cultural confidence calls for these students to step forward. They epitomize China's modern young women and the power of China's youth."