I recently read an online Chinese article that had the amusing title: ‘Miss World is from the same industry as Liu Xiang’. Liu Xiang, of course, is China’s version of Cathy Freeman – the poor and unfortunate soul who has to carry an entire nation’s hopes for Olympic glory. Liu won a gold medal for the 110m hurdles at the Athens Olympics and is expected to win another gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. On the other hand, Miss World is 182cm Zhang Zilin, a Shijiazhuang native who works as a secretary in Beijing. She recently became China’s first Miss World, which I view as a long awaited pay-off for China’s long support of the pageant.
What could Liu Xiang and Miss World have in common? Have they dated? Does Zhang work as the secretary for Liu Xiang’s agent? These suspicions are all wrong because Zhang’s connection with Liu Xiang is that she actually used to be a hurdler as well. The article doesn’t mention whether the two have met on the track, but the connection is good enough for Zhang to be sprinkled with Olympic stardust. She confides to the reporter that she is looking forward to watching the Olympics from the stands.
Another interesting snippet in the article is that Miss World is currently unattached. According to Zhang, men are scared off because of her towering height. The article even lays down a challenge to Chinese men, suggesting that Miss World needs to find a yáng shuài gē (handsome foreign man). I think that Zhang is a bit too skinny and looks very similar to actress Zhang Ziyi (who I don’t like), but I know a lot of people will disagree with me.
China's Miss World (centre) with two of her model pals.
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