Nineteen-year-old Miss Ireland Rosanna Davison was crowned Miss World 2003 in Communist China's first international beauty pageant today, an event that would have once been branded a heretical display of western decadence.
Rosanna is the daughter of singer Chris De Burgh and his wife Diane. She described herself as "a fun-loving yet humble person" when asked to describe her life and character just before the result was announced.
Runner-up was Miss Canada, Nazanin Afshin-Jam, 24. Chinese contestant Qi Guan, a fashion designer, was second runner-up in the country's third attempt at grabbing the crown.
China banned beauty pageants after the Communists swept to power in 1949 and did not enter the Miss World Competition, which started two years later, until 2001.
But even with official sanction, the transition to a beauty contest-friendly China has not been all smooth. Last year, police in southern China raided an auditorium during the Miss China contest saying the organisers did not have a permit.
The pageant was quietly allowed to continue and the winner, Zhuo Ling, went on to become second runner-up at the Miss Universe finals in Puerto Rico.
China, an economic giant striving to raise its profile in ways other than hosting the summer Olympics in 2008, has its sights on other beauty contests.
The Web site of the Communist Party's sober-minded mouthpiece, the People's Daily, recently reported the Miss International competition would be held in China next year.