Making their debut

Chinese faces at international balls

Vera Wang

The first Chinese face to appear at an International Debutante Ball is now world's most coveted wedding gown designer, Vera Wang. In 1968, the then 19-year-old daughter of an United Nations translator and the owner of a medicine company, was presented as a debutante representing China at the ball in New York City. But at the ball, she admitted never having been to Shanghai or China, where her parents were from.