Miss Chinese Vancouver 2007
Fri, December 21 2007
By Angela Lee
|
Simon Fraser University student
Jessica Choi |
Seconds before the winner was announced on Fairchild TV, the audience was encouraged to call out the names of their favourite contenders.
“If you look at the replay, I’m sure I looked pretty confused,” admits Choi, who also won Miss Photogenic and the Perfect Complexion Award. “I heard my number, but thought it was someone yelling from the audience. I looked around - no one else moved, so I just walked up and claimed the prize!”
The Toronto-born native, who is fluent in Cantonese, is ecstatic about her win but nervous about representing Vancouver at the Miss Chinese International pageant in China next month.
“I thought last night’s show was where it would all end. It’s nerve-wracking to think this is only the first step for me.” Vancouver has nabbed four international crowns over five years.
An avid athlete, Choi says she hit her stride during the evening’s dancing and martial arts numbers and was disappointed there was no swimsuit competition at this year’s show. No reason was given for the change.
Asked whether she and the long-running pageant were breaking down or reinforcing stereotypes about women, Choi quickly answers, “You can’t pin sexism just on pageants. The problem is with society’s views and ideals. Women have always been held as pretty things to look at.” Deciding against the soap box approach, she later adds, “I don’t think you can change society without changing yourself first into the kind of person you want to be. I don’t know who that person will be, right now. I haven’t chosen all my courses at school or experienced everything I want to in life.”
The part-time lifeguard adds, “People see this skinny, petite Chinese girl and don’t expect I’d be able to save anyone’s life. I wanted to show them and myself that I had it in me to excel in it. So I am breaking down stereotypes - one at a time, in my own way.”
