Photos: 20th Miss Asia Awards included pole-dancing, rubber chickens

20 contestants competed recently for the title of Miss Asia at the ATV 20th Miss Asia Awards in the tourist destination of Haikou in Hainan province, which included novel beauty pageant flourishes like pole-dancing, and a game show segment which involved wheelchairs, rubber chickens, and meat preparation by contestants wearing bikinis.

24-year-old Feng Xuebing (冯雪冰) of Beijing won the coveted Miss Asia crown, along with the "Perfect Figure Award". Feng's relevant data clock in at the ideal Chinese female height of 170cm (5 ft 7 in), 43 kgs (95 lbs), along with measurements of 33, 23 and 35.

And like all beauty pageant contestants, Ms. Feng is college-educated and is interested in music, dance and film. For the record, Ms. Feng's given name Xuebing means Snow Ice in English, which sounds to us like the perfect name for someone participating in a beauty pageant.

1st runner up was Carmen Wong (王家敏) of Hong Kong, with the second runner-up Ms. Hong Lee-ju (홍이주) of South Korea also picking up award for "Most Photogenic". Other awards included "Miss Asia Friendship" award, along with the "Miss Asia Fascinating Leggy" award for best pair of lower-body limbs, given to contestants from Thailand and Japan, respectively.

However, a mild bit of obligatory controversy occurred when Ms. Feng was left visibly uncongratulated by the runner-ups from Hong Kong and Korea after she was crowned the winner. Feng ditzily deftly allayed the tension by declaring:

"Hong Lee-ju is Korean so she can't hear, and Carmen can't totally understand either. During rehearsals, we didn't know who would be the winner...Carmen and I are still friends!"

However, the highlights of the evening consisted of segments where last year's Miss Asia second runner-up Liu Xiaozhi (刘晓智) led this year's contestants in a leathery production number centered around the ancient Chinese folk art of pole dancing, in addition to a game show segment when contestants Qiu Lin (裘琳) Zhang Weichun (张玮纯) attempted to save two Mr. Asia contestants from drowning (while wearing bikinis, of course). Their bikini strings came somewhat undone during the segment, but unfortunately thankfully no embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions came to pass.

How lovely it is that there's no pretense at the Miss Asia Awards about a beauty pageant being anything more than a chance to ogle at women. Flute-playing proficiency and charity schemes to save the world? Thanks, but we'd rather take in the pairs of Fascinating Leggy's without distraction, if you don't mind.

It's nice to see that the sort of velina production values prevalent on Italian TV are alive and well in Southern China. Silvio Berlusconi would be so proud!

Related: Photos: Chinese contestants for the Miss World Pageant