They were forbidden for 54 years – frowned upon for their bourgeois decadence. But three years after Beijing lifted a ban on beauty pageants, China is celebrating the capture of the Miss World crown for the first time.

The coronation – on home soil – of Zhang Zilin, a 23-year-old secretary who is 6ft tall and has a degree in business administration, was greeted with widespread public delight in a country whose people have taken to such competitions with abandon. Miss Zhang’s blog received well over a million hits yesterday as congratulations poured in from cyberspace.

The response was more muted from the Communist Party media. The triumph of Miss Zhang, her face wreathed in smiles and her slim form clad in a figure-hugging, ruffled evening dress, failed to push a meeting of senior politicians in grey suits from the front pages of most official websites and newspapers.

The result, though, will reinforce the importance of beauty as a powerful currency in modern China. One Chinese airline, China Southern, ran its annual recruitment drive over six months on a reality television show that required applicants to be aged 24 or under, be above average height and to have slender legs. Thousands lined up for 180 vacancies.

Beauty contests have rapidly gained popularity in China. There was the Miss Artificial Beauty contest, won by 22-year-old Feng Qian, who was able to produce four certificates confirming her plastic surgery, designed to create a more heartshaped face and double eyelids. Then there has been the “Grey Headed Group” – a pageant open only to those aged over 55.

Such is the rivalry over looks that internet portals regularly host contests where young beauties are invited to submit their photographs for votes. Websites provide prizes such as holidays to Italy or the US for winners.

One admirer’s message on Miss Zhang’s blog stated: “You’ve brought honour to our country. We’re all happy for you! We’re proud for China.”

The 57th Miss World pageant was held at Sanya, a seaside resort on the southern tropical island of Hainan, the third consecutive Miss World to be hosted by China.

Miss Zhang hails from Shijiazhaung, a gritty industrial city in the northern Hebei province, and says that her favourite foods are chocolate and ice cream. She is now certain to become a role model for a generation of Chinese women.

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