Charmaine Sheh as one of MCI Pageant judges

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[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 16/01/07]

The 2007 Miss Chinese International Pageant will be taking place on Saturday in Foshan and the twenty-one contestants met the judges for the first time yesterday. The panel will include TVB artistes Charmaine Sheh, Steven Ma, Sonija Kwok and Roger Kwok. They all say that they will not show any favouritism towards the Hong Kong representative Aimee Chan and will score fairly.

The girls have returned to Hong Kong after their promotional tour of Foshan and Aimee seemed rather tired at the meeting, that may have lost her some points with the judges. She says that she is very robust and she is not nervous and she is becoming more and more excited as the event draws near. The contestants have all been busy rehearsing and trying their costumes, hoping to give a great show and Aimee will also be catching up on some sleep over the next few days. Does she feel she is at an advantage as the Hong Kong representative? She says that although she worked with Roger on location when she took part in Miss Hong Kong, she does not feel that this will benefit her. Melbourne's Jenifer Jiang is the youngest contestant this year at only 18 years old, but she says she has no pressure and is having a lot of fun. She says that everyone else are like big sisters and there is no-one picking on her.

This is the first time that Charmaine has been a judge at a beauty pageant and she had a chat with each of the contestants at the press event. She says that she is interested in the level of knowledge that the contestants have on Chinese Culture and she says that to be themselves is already enough because to be natural is the most beautiful. However, Charmaine did not reveal her favourites because this is unfair and she just said that she will judge fairly and seriously and will show no favouritism. Sonija felt the girls had great figures and asked if she felt that Aimee seemed a little lacklustre, she says that a lot of it is down to your own drive and determination. When she took part in MCI, she was unwell, but she still managed to win the award and the hard work paid off. She also says that she will not give extra points to the Hong Kong representative because she has to be fair.

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Steven says frankly that he will be able to watch the pretty girls openly and although he offered his hand to shake with Aimee, he insists that he will not be so generous with his points. He feels that the most important thing about MCI is for the contestants to learn a little more about China and to not even know when the country was formed is unacceptable. He prefers the contestants that look 'traditionally Chinese'. Of course, to look tidy is also important. Roger worked with Aimee in Korea during the Miss Hong Kong pageant, so he has a deeper impression of her, but he will not be biased.

The MC's for the show will be Eric Tsang and Derek Li. Singing star Eric Moo will also be the guest MC. When Derek was introducing the contestants onto the stage, he caused a few laughs when he introduced Number 12 Sarah Song from Sydney as 'number 12 contender'. With jokes that he was no good, he said humbly: "I am the worst, the girls and the judges are the best."

News translation credit to Em. All clips credit to Bebe from www.shehsheh.com.

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Sehseh: Sorry for the late update. Been feeling unwell these days, plus I have some series to catch up with. I'm currently watching [Brink of Law]. I know, I previously swore off Shirley series and evidently, I'm not keeping my promise as the series is quite good. On the other hand, I thank my lucky star avoiding [Price of Greed] because I heard it's driving people up the wall with its perpetual slow-mo plot.