Browse bevy of bikini babes, bring boatloads of bucks

Shanghaiist has a lot of guys on the staff (for a reason we just can't fathom — we really want more female contributors). So, naturally, a tip posted in our Shanghaiist Forums about Shanghai playing host to an International "Miss Bikini" Competition caught our attention.

Our first thought, why wasn't this in Sanya — the home of everything World competition related? Our senses quickly restored, we realised that a whole bunch of mega-babes wearing next to absolutely nothing was coming to Shanghai. Woo! Shanghai Auto 2007 was just whetting our appetite for the next round of female appreciation.

Those raring to attend this event might want to wait for the bad news, and then the potentially worse news.

First of all, tickets for the event start at RMB 580 and go up to RMB 3,000 to attend the event. Yikes! That makes Sonic Youth look like a bargain. Hmmm, this doesn't make the bikini babes as attractive as our first impressions.

We also had a number of sirens going off in our BS detectors after reading the press release blurb accompanying this announcement. You can read it in full here, but here are some excerpts:

Mr. Charlie Xie organized all kinds of beauty competition and ceremony the in the most famous hotels in Hollywood -- Global Hotel. After organizing a seriesof events,Mr. Charles-one of the most famous Hollywood photographer found so many girls like to dress Bikini to enter the match.

To protect the uniqueness of these titles, as well as to the future success of these events ,from the perspective of intellectual property rights, Charlie used name of "American Beauty Festival International Culture Spread Institutions" to registered the event's as title "Miss Bikini" in the United States Patent and Trademark Management, Washington, in 1965...

Apart from the poor translation, something about this whole thing doesn't sit right with this little Shanghaiist. Our in-depth Google research and patent searching didn't uncover any information detailing the history of the competition or the origin of this event. The sole independent reference to the competition on the China.com website showing photos of the contestants of the 33rd International "Miss Bikini" Contest held last November in Humen, China.

Shanghaiist also couldn't find any relevant English-language information for the famous Charlie Xie, or combinations with bikini or photography online. Maybe we didn't look so hard, but being such a famous individual we are sure his name should have popped up in searches like this. Something may have been lost in translation, but what really sparked out cynicism about the 'grandness' of the upcoming installment of this event was the fact that the only web information about this event is the same press release plastered over Chinese bulletin boards, forums and websites.

Is this some event being garishly promoted with white lies, or is it a scam? Or has Shanghaiist got this completely wrong?

Disclaimer: Shanghaiist undertook a lot in-depth research for this report at bikini websites from all around the globe. We only went to these sites for the sake of the story, we promise.

The curiously named and promoted International "Miss Bikini" Competition will be held at the Changning Gymnastics Center on August 18th, 2007. Online ticket booking via piao.com.cn, and enquiries via 63744968.

Photo of last year's competition entrant taken from China.com.