Miss Chinese International 2015 - Review

Well well well..Sydney wins again with yet another witty and Cantonese speaking candidate, just like the time when Sarah Song won the pageant back in 2007. I was on holiday during the final and thus I didn't catch up with the finals until later. I remembered when I checked the news, I was pleasantly surprised by the results but was disappointed by the fact that Hong Kong managed to bag the 1st Runner-up.

Sarah Song - MCIP 2007 - I actually like Sarah and her presentation skills

Before the start of the review, let me comment on the  MCIP champions that participated in this year's pageant.

Eliza Sam (MCIP 2011 from Vancouver)

Eliza looked rather different from her usual image in my opinion. Usually she wears rather cute and princess-y dresses but she managed to wear a more elegant and classy dress this time. She still looked beautiful without a doubt. She also managed to show people how she won the crown back in 2011 by cleverly and humorously answering the MCs' question on her favourite delegate - Bangkok.

Grace Chan (MCIP 2014 from Hong Kong)

She looked stunning and breath-taking. At first, I thought due to her tight filming schedule, she would look tired and not at her best (though she would still look gorgeous). However, she attended the finals with an absolutely stunning dress and energy. She looked her best during the night, outshining the other Miss Hong Kong winners sitting near her, i.e. Erin Wong and Katherine Ho, by miles.

The only critique that I have for her, which is not her fault, is WHO THE HELL gave her that HUGE AND UGLY CROWN!!

Get what I mean..Ugly crown ugh... BUT still outshining the others!!

Review
The stage looked like MHK 2014 but I enjoyed the opening.
The dresses and the hairstyle for the opening looks decent this year - not much monstrous dresses

Top 3

15) Mandy CHAI - Sydney - Champion

• Introduction: She looked very pretty and like her natural speech
• Interview/Swimsuit: Strong and clever speaker, just like Sarah Song when she won in 2007. I might even say she speaks even smarter then her predecessor. However, I believe she does have to tone down a but coz this is a pageant at the end of the day. This might though be the reason why she was placed so high. The judges loved her personality.
• Talent: People might find this performance sexy but it can be seen that she was not an adept dancer
• Comments: I have no problem with Mandy's win coz i think she deserved it! Her pic during the swimsuit portion was hot as well, though not as smoking as Catherine's.

6) Veronica SHIU - Hong Kong - 1st Runner-Up

• Introduction: I must say she looked her best tonight. The photo of her above is not justified. But why is her speech so slow!
• Interview/ Swimsuit: Weak answer. Very very weak. If she is not from HK then I believe she won't make it! I would rather have some other contestant in her top 5 spot
• Talent: This is the part where actually shot her to the top. The dance was watchable and vibrant. Judging from the talent portion alone, she deserved to be 1st Runner-up, which is quite disappointing at the same time coz I dun reli think she could be in the Top 5 
• Comments: Her 1st runner-up in my opinion is not justified because she should not have entered the top 5 in the first place. 

11) Katherine HUI - New York City - 2nd Runner-Up

• Introduction: She looked gorgeous in that purple dress. New York is strong this year!! I would still hope she don a darker hair colour. That would make her even more competitive in a Chinese based pageant
• Interview/Swimsuit: She was not bad and did not step a foot wrong. My only comment would be that her words can sound blunt at times. Definitely in the Top 3. On a side note her swimsuit photo at the back was HOTTT!!! I also like how her hair flow during her walk.
• Talent: Decent watching and she was reli good at the piano. However, it may not be as interesting as dancing
• Dance: She was a strong dancer! Her moves co-ordinateed with the music very well
• Comments: I would have been happier if she was the 1st Runner-up. Although her talent may not be as watchable as Veronica's, she definitely was much stronger than her in all other aspect.On a side note, New York had been quite strong these recent year with Maggie Zhang last year and Jasmine Hayter in 2012. Let's hope they can sustain the heat!

Top 5
7) Anjoe Koh - KL - Top 5

• Introduction: Love her dress!! Probably one of the most gorgeous dresses. She managed to carry it well at the same time. She looked better in motion
• Interview/Swimsuit: She speaks well. In the first interview she was definitely much better than Veronica. In the swimsuit one she was very good and eloquent as well
• Talent: Egyptian Dance...She definitely just learnt it for the competition. If there was no such part, she should have placed higher. Such a shame..
• Comments: I think she was an excellent representative for KL. However, she definitely was not as good as some of her predecessors in recent years, e.g. Lenna Lim and Denise Tan. Anjoe had the elegance but she lacked the spark that the two of them had.

17) Erica CHEN - Vancouver - Top 5

• Introduction: Gorgeous! She reli does looks like Whitney Hui at first glance.
• Interview/Swimsuit: She is strong in this portion as well! Definitely one of the top contestants.
• Talent: I actually liked her performance. However, I believer a classic music would showcase her beauty and elegance more and she would be less nervous. She definitely was nervous! I was wishing that her performance would suppress Veronica's dance actually
• Dance: She was lucky that she would not have to move much for this portion. She definitely is not a strong dancer and quite struggled with it. Her walk was also not as smooth as some other e.g. New York and Melbourne, to my suprise.
• Comments: She is another strong representative for Vancuover. She probably had one of the most gorgeous faces this year. However, when faced with an even stronger speaker in the Top 5, she just did not have what it takes to beat Mandy for the crown. However, she is definitely a much better choice than Veronica.

Top 10
2) Christina JIN - Auckland - Miss Friendship

• Introduction: Her dress looked weird but I can give it a pass.
• Interview/ Swimsuit: She is super tall!! But I dun think that would be enough to make it to the Top 10. That is why I was surprised that she was included.

3) Isabella CHAYANEE - Bangkok

• Introduction: Her Cantonese is surprisingly smooth. She did have glimpses of MCIP 2006 1st Runner-up Ginney from Bangkok. Because of this, I thought she was going to do very well that night.
• Interview/ Swimsuit: Nth special. It's just that she is lucky enough to have a celebrity translator. I dun reli mind if she gets into top 5 but i would not be sad if she miss it either.

MCIP 2006 1st Runner-up Ginney

8) Katrina LEE - Los Angeles

• Introduction: Lookwise she is basically one of the weakest.
• Interview/ Swimsuit: Didn't reli care coz I think this is the furthest she would go.

9) Cindy YE - Melbourne

• Introduction: Very cute and the dress helped to express that cuteness as well. Her walk in my opinion was very smooth
• Interview/Swimsuit: She was decent in interviews but she was always overshadowed especially in the first one where she was against Miss Sydney. She does have a very solid and good catwalk for the swimsuit portion though! She came prepared!
• Dance: I think her dance performance was quite strong

16) Valarie FONG - Toronto

• Introduction: To be honest, I dun find her strong among the girls. However, she had that composed aura that u will immediately know she'll get into the Top 10. I guess she is the type which are consistent and can sail into the Top 10 without difficulty but are too plain to make the final cut
• Interview/Swimsuit: She is no doubt a calm and decent speaker

Remaining
1) Zhengting LU - Anhui, China

• Introduction: As the first one on stage, she does look decent but I dun find her particularly memorable. The mainland contestants this year actually surprised as they look quite decent and elegant.
• Interview: Confident answer. Got a shot at top 10

3) Jennifer ZHANG - Chicago

• Introduction: As I have said, all of the girls look decent but Chicago just did not stand out for me, as well as the judges
• Interview: It's actually alright but she is quite nervous.

5) Holly HE - Jiangsu

• Introduction: She has that kind of mainland aura that I dun reli like. Probably the weakest among the mainland contestants
• Interview: She seems to rehearsed 

6) Jia LI - Montreal

• Introduction: She was very pretty and she seemed quite tall. Pleasant surprise. Could be a dark horse. Too bad her voice sound so DJ-fied
• Interview: She was not bad though she almost set a trap for herself which might probably be the reason why she missed the cut.
• Dance: Quite enjoy her dance as well!

12) Shirley LIU - San Fransico

• Introduction: She looked her best here and her dress was very pretty. Made her looked very elegant. However, unfortunately she was one of the weakest links in the pageant.
• Interview: Nth special

13) Leah LI - Seattle

• BIGGEST SHOCK!!!!
• Introduction: She looked so pretty and elegant!! Lookwise, she was one of the best bet. The judges may not like her introduction though as she said that she was a kind-hearted person. It's not an easy task to define yourself as kind-hearted.
• Interview: Over praising Miss Thailand and didn't relate to the question. Such a PITY! The judges could just simply place her in the Top Ten just because of her look!
• Dance: Nice Dance! Though she could have been fitter.

14) Tammy NG - Singapore

• Introduction: Love her dress. It was quite playful because of the sharp colour and the floral print on the top. Her hairstyle was a bit off though - dun like the bangs, especially when you are not facially the strongest
• Interview: Sure dead after her answer..
• Dance: Her moves are quite solid and I like her smile

15) Yolanda YEN - Zhejiang

• Introduction: She was looking her best as well and she was gorgeous!
• Interview: She was too nervous!

Miss Chinese International 2013

Compared with 2012, MCIP 2013 has much fewer contestants. At the same time, although the quality is quite decent, the field is definitely not as strong as last year. I haven't been following the competition very closely this year, so I'm just going to write a review on the final night.

Stage: The stage looked pretty nice actually but I reli don't like to have celebrities sitting by the side. It just made the whole thing looked cheap.
MC: I haven't noticed this before but Eric Tsang is extremely biased!!! Apart from that, I don't like how the MCs ask about who had been the worst in the segments.
Talent: I think the talent portion is basically useless as I dun think it will affect the result much unless all contestants are allowed to perform as in MCIP 2006.

1) Catherine OU YANG - Auckland

Pre-competition: I think she looks completely different from how she used to look in Auckland. She looks reli old in HK while I'm actually expecting her to look youthful. She looks gorgeous in the commercial thou. I want her to do well.

Introduction: She was given a golden sequin dress and it looked beautiful on her. Her voice was also very cute.

Swimsuit: You can see that she had prepared for the competition from her walk and how she stood. I would say that her walk was pretty nice and smooth. The way she stood during the interview process indicated that she prepared for it. However, it's such a pity that she got stabbed by Eric Tsang for criticizing no.9, which was reli disappointing.

2) Boonyisa (Poppy) CHANTRARACHAI - Bangkok - TOP 5

Pre-competition: the most beautiful and stunning among the group. She is tall, elegant and gorgeous, a front-runner for the crown. She looks better than in Bangkok because she put on way to much make-up then.

Introduction: Gorgeous gown. She looked stunning. Auckland, LA and her got the most beautiful gowns of the night.

Swimsuit: Nice walk and body as well. The interview went well but the problem was she could not use chinese. Hope this won't affect her result.

Talent: She should have picked something more conventional. If she picked dancing, it would have showcased her beauty even more.

Crowning: I knew that Gloria was going to bag the crowd when three of them were left on the stage. This was because she received too much attention given to her by the MCs (cough..cough..Eric Tsang). As much as I agree that Carat and Denise deserved their placements, but not Gloria. I would have replaced any one of them with Poppy.

3) Jessica CHEN - Chicago

Pre-competition: she actually looks ok when she was in Chicago but still she is no where near Kelly's level. 

Introduction: I think she actually looked ok but she lacked confident.

Swimsuit: A lot of ppl said she's fat and chubby but I actually find her ok..She's just untoned. Her interview was pretty smooth but I'm not sure if that's enough.

4) Cynthia QIU - Foshan China

Pre-competition: I just dun like her..

Introduction: She looked ok-ish but I just dun like her..I dun get why she's considered as a media favorite.

Swimsuit: Her question, as commented by one of the star judges, was quite inappropriate and did not suit the image of pageant.

5) Carat CHEUNG - Hong Kong - 2nd Runner-Up

Pre-competition: She actually looks very pretty throughout the competition. I think she looks her best with straight hair or have her hair tied into a bun. I want to say that she looks elegant too but that elegance was hindered by the fact that she was one of the shortest in the contest.

Introduction: The dress reli complimented/enlarged her figure. She sounded a bit nervous and uncertain thou.

Swimsuit: She looked fantastic although I would have told her to tone her poses down a bit..They are a bit too sexy. Her interview was smooth and included some boot-licking. You can tell that she's smart.

Talent: Her belly-dance was great alongside Jessica Song's traditional Chinese dance..One of the best among the top 5

Crowning: I am not surprised that she was included in the top 3. She has the looks, the wits, the talent and the sash factor. Haha she seemed disappointed with this placement.

6) Denise TAN - Kuala Lumpur - 1st Runner-Up

Pre-competition: She is one of the best among the group with the height and a cute girl-next-door face. She has that innocent look while Lenna Lim last year has that gorgeous powerful look. They are both strong contenders.She has a great official portrait.
Introduction: Well she had a special cat-walk. It suit her dress. She had a great smile at the same time.
Swimsuit: She is quite thin. Her interview was quite cheerful and relaxed at the same time. She is a cheerful and bubbly person.
Talent: To be honest I think her dancing is bad..It's badly choreographed and it showed that she was not keen on dancing.
Crowing: If there was no talent portion, I would have crowded her. She deserves the crowd as she is a great representative. But judging by the fact that her talent was uninteresting, she should not be given a 1st Runner-Up place.

7) Lauren WEINBERGER - Los Angeles - Top 9 - Miss Friendship

Pre-competition: A mixed-beauty..but she looks old almost all the time. She has potential to do well.
Introduction: Her dress was gorgeous. It made her stand-out.
Swimsuit: I think she is quite slim. Her interview was smooth and it made people feel that she was a Chinese even thou she could not speak Chinese. She deserved to be in the Top 9.
Talent: Bad singing.

8) Natasha Nicole LEE - Manila

Pre-competition/ Introduction: She is the weakest of the group, in terms of both looks and height.

Swimsuit: She walked like a robot. Her interview was quite nice and entertaining thou. She seemed like a nice person.

9) Jacky CAI - Melbourne - Top 9

Pre-competition: She's decent but the way that she responded to her news was very funny. She said she would not quit foul language.

Introduction: The dress would have been much better without the train. It just made it look weird.

Swimsuit: She was way too thin. She was also being too smart and arrogant in her interview.

Talent: A traditional performance but it could not be compared with Jessica's dance.

10) YANG Liu Qing Qing - Montreal

Pre-competition: Interesting Name!!!

Introduction: Ugly dress. She is very tall thou..5ft10.

Swimsuit: Strange interview but funny..haha

11) Vivian LI - New York City

Pre-competition: She is no where near last year's gorgeous mixed-beauty but still..she has potential coz she looked decent in New York.

Introduction: Ugly and bizarre dress!! It's the same one as Tracy Chu's dress to Ms International, just that it was of different colour. She sounded blunt as well.

Swimsuit: She looked a bit chubby. Her interview went well but it wasn't a stand-out. She was not looking her best.

12) Samantha SHIN - Seattle - Top 9

Pre-competition: Who is she?? Where is she from??

Introduction: I forgot..

Swimsuit: I think she is a favorite of Eric Tsang. He praised her during the interview.

Talent: She must have done very well in her interview with the judges. I was surprised by her inclusion but she is very polite and she has that classical aura. Her singing was not that great but was much better than Lauren.

13) Stella KAE - Singapore 

Pre-competition: I remembered Stella as she was competing in the Miss International competition with Whitney Hui before. I am rooting for her to do well but she hasn't been standing out.

Intro: She looked decent but she opened her eyes too wide lol

Swimsuit: She is slim. Her interview had not started well but it became better towards the end. I thought she was able to squeeze into the Top 9.

14) Sunnia LIU - Sydney - Top 9

Pre-competition: Is she the sister of last year's Amy Liu?? Apparently not despite their similar chinese names and looks. I believe Amy is stronger thou.

Intro: She looked as if she's dreaming but she is quite pretty.
Swimsuit: She is quite decent. Her interview was smooth but she made herself looked bad. I originally thought that this would hinder her chance to move onto the next segment.
Talent: Chinese painting.. It is not a good talent to showcast in such a short time. I believe that she is a good artist but it could not be demonstrated.

15) Jessica Song - Toronto - Top 5 - Star of Tomorrow Award

Pre-competition: She is gorgeous!! Front-runner alert. She sometimes looks like a short version of Ms World Wenxia Yu. Her portrait didn't do her justice and her height is an issue.

Intro: She was quite stiff and her hair was too fluffy. She could have been better but still..she is beautiful.

Swimsuit: Decent. Interview also went well. Top 4 for sure. I'm actually surprised that she needed to compete for the last slot in top 5.

Talent: She was the best..she should have won the whole thing..

Crowning: She should have won the whole thing with Poppy.

16) Gloria TANG - Vancouver - Champion

Pre-competition: She is plain in my opinion but she has that sweet look that the media and the judges like. She is going to do very well.
Intro: She was quite stiff as well but her words are very clear.
Swimsuit: She is very thin. It was so unfair that Eric Tsang supported her that much, e.g. pointing out she is from Hong Kong; got a lot of jokes to compliment her. You know immediately that she was gonna flare well. I was hoping that she could not reach the top.
Talent: I was surprised that she did not have to fight for the spot in the top 5.
Crowning: I think she was the weakest in the top 5 but I was not surprised by her win as I can see that she got a lot of extra support..Eric Tsang, etc..You can also see that Virginia Lok, the woman that is in-charged of artistes was thrilled by her victory. I was disappointed by the results as there were better candidates that could be champion.

Aftermath: As much as I find her plain, Gloria does looks freaking pretty in dramas. Looks like she is artiste material afterall..