My Beautiful Life: The Beauty Pageant Journey of Asian Beauty Gong Xuehua

Author: Gong Xuehua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: She is a beautiful woman of China, a flower in Shanghai, a woman who made Clinton stop and stare; she is a champion of beauty pageants in Paris after China opened its doors; she is a Miss Asia who broke the age limit and created a myth; she is a Chinese woman who raised the five-star red flag to participate in the Miss World contest in the United States and won a major award. Some people's lives are legendary, and legendary people are always imaginative and restless. She experienced a life others had never dreamed of, leaping from one miracle to another. Life is like a fire and lightning in a story, and against this dazzling backdrop, a legendary life shines even brighter! Legendary people are not ordinary mortals, so they are not necessarily happy people, but perhaps enviable people. Only by the grace of the Buddha can one become legendary by chance. For about twenty years, no woman in contemporary Shanghai has been able to appear in beauty pageants in Paris, Hong Kong before returning to China, and Las Vegas at the age of blossoming youth, as Gong Xuehua has. At nearly or even beyond the age of forty, she left her mark on the grand, dazzling stages, giving TV audiences and readers a series of sensational performances and aesthetics, and leaving with so much discussion, speculation, and reflection. Since ancient times, the Chinese nation has deeply understood and appreciated the beauty of women: Diaochan admiring the moon with her closed-lunar face, Zhaojun leaving the frontier with her falling grace, the empress drinking wine with her flower-damaging beauty, and Xi Shi washing silk with her fish-sinking appearance, all becoming the classic beauty of Chinese women for a thousand years. However, the beauty of Chinese women that has been passed down often coincides with politics, the world, and the fate of the nation. The different backgrounds of the four great beauties reflect the rise and fall of the times, suggesting that the beauty of women back then could either endure humiliation to charm enemies and bring prosperity or indulge in flattery to make kings lustful and bring disaster, leaving behind a legacy of beauty intertwined with shame and chaos, leading to the common attitude of looking at beauty with a side-eye for many years. So, as late as 1993, the "China News Award" was still given to an article written by a female student from Peking University titled "Peking University Girls Refuse to Participate in Beauty Pageants," and the All-China Women's Federation expressed opposition to holding beauty pageants. Meanwhile, at that time, the brave and confident Gong Xuehua, after participating in a Chinese beauty pageant in Paris, unexpectedly, to both those who knew and those who didn't, stepped into the Miss Asia pageant in Hong Kong. The、、、 stirred up wave after wave of controversies. Amidst it all, Gong Xuehua sometimes flowed with the current and sometimes rowed against it, occasionally facing reporters' sharp questions and sometimes turning her back on those digging into her private life. Wherever she went, there was a whirl of excitement and buzz. As a result, Gong Xuehua insisted on participating in beauty pageants out of her beauty, and because of the pageants, some deliberately created a fuss around her. She had to fully display her beauty in appearance and figure while also trying to hide the grievances and private affairs that made her even more beautiful. In this process of revealing and concealing, her unprecedentedly sensational life began, and many years later, this book was born. In fact, beauty pageants are not just about one woman winning the crown with her natural beauty, but also about sharp wit, broad knowledge, and the courage to dare and advance. Gong Xuehua, a Shanghai woman with a truly beautiful demeanor, repeatedly won in the pageants in Paris, Hong Kong, and Las Vegas, showcasing her beauty, intelligence, nobility, and elegance to the world. Although it may not directly enhance the image of women in Shanghai and China, it at least spreads the beauty of Shanghai's maritime culture and the open and tolerant atmosphere of China's modern society through these pageants. These humorous anecdotes and thoughtful reflections can all be found and remembered by reading Gong Xuehua's book. In this book, Gong Xuehua reflects on her three beauty pageant experiences: winning the "Miss Chinese Abroad" title in France in the 1980s, entering the final round of the "Miss Asia" competition at the age of "47" in 1995, and receiving the "Best National Costume Award" at the Miss World in Las Vegas in 2000, recounting her secrets to success in beauty pageants.