Miss Chinese International Pageant 2017, Genting Highlands

Contestants from all corners of the world were featured, including young ladies from the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Asian cities. They will vie for the Miss Chinese International 2017 crown as well as the First and Second Runners-up spots and the title of Miss Friendship 2017.

Tan Sri Dato' Michelle Yeoh, Dato’ Nancy Yeoh and Hong Kong actors Simon Yam, Wayne Lai, Niki Chow and Eric Tsang are among the big names who added glitter to the prestigious Miss Chinese International Pageant 2017. The pageant, was taking place outside Hong Kong for the very first time, and was held at Resorts World Genting on 15 January 2017.

Tan Sri Yeoh, Dato’ Nancy Yeoh, Simon Yam, Wayne Lai and Niki Chow will be among the judges at the pageant while Tsang will take on the role of master of ceremonies (emcee). Tan Sri Yeoh, who is also a brand ambassador of Resorts World Genting, hopes her presence will inspire all contestants. The actress, who was Miss Malaysia 1983 and voted as one of the “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” by People magazine in 1997, found fame in Hong Kong and was also the only Asian Bond Girl.

From Auckland, New Zealand is Liu Xuanyi, or Christina, 21, who is a voice-over talent. Liu is heavily into sports—swimming, basketball and pingpong—but she also loves singing, poetry and photography.

Representing Thailand is Chanya Wonglappanich, or Gam, who is from Bangkok. This 24- year-old lass is also into sports but loves music as well. 

Hong Kong's Crystal Fung Ying Ying, 22, is into yoga and dancing but also loves cooking, travelling and reading.

Lee Adelaide Hong Zhen's interests are as diverse. Also known as Addy, the 22-year-old from Johannesburg, South Africa, loves surfing, jogging, and hiking—but she is also into reading and eating!

Serene Lee, 20, who is from Kuala Lumpur. Winner of Miss Astro Chinese 2016 (and also winner of Miss Photogenic along with being voted Miss Gorgeous), Lee is a marathoner who also loves cycling, reading and watching movies.

Qu Li, also known as Lili. At 26, she is one of the oldest contestants, and she has impressive credentials to boot—among others, she is president of Global China Connection at Vanderbilt University. The lass, who lives in Los Angeles, says her greatest joy is serving as an art teacher for autistic children and holding music workshops for school children. She loves to travel but she always “travels with a purpose,” which translates to travelling to help others. She has thus far taught art and English to children in Cambodia, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. A graduate in Human and Organisational Development from Vanderbilt University, Qu Li also lists archery, horse riding, swimming, calligraphy and playing the piano as her favourite activities.

Zeng Lin, or Janne, 20, hails from the Philippines. The Manila-based lass who won Miss Chinatown Philippines 2016, is into singing, dancing and drawing.

Melbourne-based Rong Yu or Gloria, 21, who loves many different things—horse riding, dancing, drawing, playing violin and emceeing.

Bella Li is the only participate from China. She is born in Foshan and her hobby is reading and recitation. She wished to become a successful emcee or reporter.

From Montreal, Canada is Zhang Gao Yu, or Alice, 21, who says she simply loves poetry and reading. Zhang's avocation is music—she can play the piano, guitar and drums. But she's also athletic in nature, loving sports like tennis, hockey and snowboarding.

Ssuting Yu, fondly called Stitch by her friends, is 22, and hails from New York. She is into acting, dancing, drawing, roller skating, and scuba diving.

Wong Stephanie Rachel, 24, is from San Francisco, and lists aerial silks acrobatics as among her favourite pastimes. She is also into videography and photography, dancing, and hairstyling and beauty

Lovelle Cengiya, 22, represents Singapore, and is into singing and dancing, but she is also skilled in robotics, listing making radio-controlled cars and robots as her favourite pastimes.

Representing Australia is Yu Xinhui or Emily, 26, who is from Sydney. She is also into sports, listing snowboarding, jogging, swimming and dancing as her favourite pastimes. But she also loves to read.

Li Gloria, 25, from Toronto, who also speaks Spanish, apart from English, Mandarin and Cantonese. This lass loves reading, dancing, playing guitar, and pursuing sports.

Rincon Maria Camila Xiaosi, 22, who is from Vancouver, is likewise into dancing and exercising. But she also loves blogging.

After went through all kinds of challenges, Serene Lee from Malaysia came out as the hot favorite to win the crown especially after the Q&A session when she was asked how she would sell herself to the casting directors in a movie biography about Michelle Yeoh. She answered that Michelle Yeoh and her share similar physical features. They were also both 20 years old when we competed for a beauty pageant. If they want to cast her to play Michelle Yeoh, she would ‘smash herself into pieces’ for the performance.

At the final stage, the last five contestants were tested with their talent performance. Crystal Fung from Hong Kong performed a simple magic tricks.

Alice Zhang from Montreal, Canada, was trying to impress the judges with her talent in her drum but unfortunately she sang longer than playing the drum where her vocal is not the best she got in her.

Meanwhile, Emily Yu from Sydney, Australia was performing her Latin dance while showing her attractive pair of long legs. Too bad, the rhythm and her dance were out of sync.

When she knew she already almost certain to win the crown on that night and only the talent performance to go through, she screwed it up pretty badly with her pop & lock dance instead. It was more than certain that performance has caused her title.

Especially when Stitch Yu from New York gave the judges and the audiences the best performance of the night with her inline figure skating skill. It was really a twist ending when she surprised everyone and came out to be the winner.

Addy Lee from Johannesburg won herself the Miss Friendship 2017.

Crystal Fung from Hong Kong with only 22" waistline earned second runner up.

Serene Lim from Malaysia settled herself with the runner-up title.

The surprise winner, Stitch Yu came out from no where until her final talent performance to clinch the winner crown from the Miss Chinese International Pageant 2016 winner, Miss Jennifer Coosemans from Vancouver, Canada.

It was a disappointment moment for Serene Lim and also the audiences from Malaysia but it was really an exciting performances by all the contenders. Everyone was giving out their very best to win and to stun the audiences. 

It was also a great experience for me to see all my favourite Hong Kong actors and actresses were there in Malaysia. I just can't wait for next year for another outstanding beauty pageant contest. I got the feeling it is going to be greater than this.