Miss World and Sanya form a happy partnership
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-03 09:01

Sanya used to be a backwater beach resort, a remote, rundown Chinese outpost in the tropics where foreign visitors were so rare, they drew openmouthed stares.

Miss Mexico Yesica Guadalupe Ramirez Meza, left, and Miss Australia Sarah Janette Davies, right, stand on stage during a rehearsal for the 54th Miss World contest in Sanya, on south China's Hainan Island, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004. Contestants from 107 countries and regions are in Sanya preparing for the final on Dec. 4. [AP]

Then Miss World arrived. And nothing was the same again.

When organizers of the pageant picked Sanya as the site of the event in 2003, the government loosened its purse strings and paid for roads and other facilities. Private money built a US$12 million, tiara-shaped convention center to hold the final.

In exchange, Sanya provided a tranquil setting for a pageant that was forced to flee Nigeria the previous year after rioting there killed 200 Muslims and Christians.

Both sides found the partnership so rewarding that Miss World is in Sanya for a second straight year, promising to draw a worldwide television audience for its sugar white beaches and azure surf when 107 women compete in the final Saturday night.

Organizers claim that last year's event was watched by 2.3 billion people _ the kind of advertising that a little beach resort like Sanya could never buy. The town already is lobbying to hold Miss World again next year.

Beyond new highways and hotels, the changes brought to Sanya by Miss World can be measured in a new enthusiasm among young people to learn foreign languages.

Li Baiqing, Sanya's deputy director of tourism, divides economic development into two stages _ pre-Miss World and post-Miss World.

"Two years ago, we couldn't get money to pave the roads. Then, last year, not only were the roads finally built but the whole city was refurbished," he said.

"It was like putting makeup on a pretty young girl."

The pageant and the free publicity it brings have fueled government efforts to promote Sanya, located at the southern tip of Hainan Island in the South China Sea, as a tourist destination.

Boosters call the island "China's Hawaii," though most people still eke out a living farming or fishing. Wages are among the lowest in the nation at 9,600 yuan (US$1,160) a year in town and a third that in the countryside.

Tourist arrivals in Sanya, half of whose 200,000 people are employed by the industry, are up 23 percent from last year at 3.7 million, and new construction is everywhere.

City officials say the US$31 million (23 million) that they spent on new roads has paid off. Li said the Miss World auditorium has since been used for trade shows and a martial arts exhibition.

"With this beautiful hall and the roads leading to it, we have increased our attractions for visitors," he said.

Sanya was built from scratch in 1987 along a sleepy seashore. Stores and restaurants popped up along the Sanya River, where Li said fishermen used to catch more fish than they could ever sell.

Efforts to turn Sanya into a resort kicked into high gear in 1996, when the first luxury hotel was built. It has since been joined by lush resorts built by Sheraton and Marriott that are like self-contained luxury towns with restaurants and shops.

Much of Sanya hasn't changed, though.

Just a few kilometers (miles) from the resorts and their 68 yuan (US$8.20; 6.40) chicken Caesar salads, farmers in conical straw hats graze water buffalo alongside pristine new highways. Most people get around by bicycle and motorbike, not car.

The place still has small-town charm. In the city center, a bowl of noodles costs 4 yuan (48 U.S. cents; 38 euro cents). Leave an extra penny on the counter and the waitress chases you to return it.

Townspeople are taking the changes in stride.

"China used to be backward," said Wu Wanzhang, a retired fruit plantation worker who was enjoying a cup of tea in his son's curtain shop.

"Nowadays we welcome visitors from all countries, and China has been enriched because of it," he said.

China's booming economy and enthusiasm for beauty pageants _ still a novelty here after decades of communist austerity _ make the country a good fit for Miss World.

"Only China can provide a stage this big," Li said. "Miss World had to come to China to replenish her youth and beauty."

And the lift it has given Sanya goes beyond the new construction.

"In the past, when people in Sanya saw a foreigner they'd get very nervous and not say anything or even smile," Li said.

"Now, Sanya is very open and very friendly," he said. "It's especially apparent among young people. They feel they are part of the world."

And beauty pageants and tourism are just start of the town's ambitious development plans.

"If all we do is drive the cars and cook the food, wages can't grow," Li said.

He says Sanya wants to build its seafood industry and attract pharmaceutical firms. And hopes are high that China will one day find oil in the South China Sea.

For now, though, Miss World is the only show in town.

"Of course I'm going to watch it on TV," said shopkeeper Zheng Bingquan, as he lined up bottles of vinegar on a shelf. "This is the pride of Sanya. Everyone will be watching."

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