Pride and Prejudice by Zhang Chenxi
The Decline of Miss Hong Kong Pageants: A Shift in Beauty Standards and Values
It is another year, and another episode of Miss Hong Kong. It comes silently, and it creeps away equally silently.
For many born in the 21st century, we may only hear the lingering echoes of the once sensational variety show. For those in our parents’ generation, it is an entire story altogether. They may even be familiar with the few household names that emerged out of the beauty pageant: Maggie Cheung, Michelle Reis, Ada Choi. Many of these female celebrities once dominated the screen of TVB. It was a wistful era where women were not defined by a singular set of beauty standards. We see confident women; independent women; intelligent women who may not have privileged upbringing, and they attend the pageant to have a shot at altering their destiny, by earning the anticipated television contracts from TVB and entering the entertainment industry. Yet, the decline of the pageant has coincided with the fall of the Hong Kong’s entertainment industry, and there’s hardly any interest in the 2023 Miss Hong Kong despite the once revered status of the variety show. While Miss Hong Kong was an iconic symbol of Hong Kong’s soft power and cultural influence in the last century, there are several reasons surrounding its declining popularity, which is a reflection of societal attitudes in Hong Kong.
The Shifting Definition of Beauty
While the beauty pageant does factor in other qualities of the contestants like their intelligence and charisma, it does derive much of its sensationalism for being known as a beauty contest. There have been plenty of complaints that the standards of Miss Hong Kong has gone downhill. Past contestants in Miss Hong Kong were often criticised for being too ‘ugly’, such as Chinese-Filipino-Spanish Kirsten Ashley[1], who has been likened to a Buddha statue, or the 2017 Miss Hong Kong winner Juliette Louie who was bullied for her protruding front teeth. In stark contrast, most of the Miss Hong Kong winners in the twentieth century were in their own respective leagues of beauty– Maggie Cheung for her grace, Michelle Reis for her striking appearance, challenging the boundaries of beauty. Yet, with the rise of plastic surgery over the last decade, the standards of beauty are increasingly more homogenised – small face, double eyelids, tall nose seems to be the norm for what constitutes as a typical East Asian beauty. This mold is so easily replicable, and even with outstanding cosmetic skills alone it’s possible for one to be very beautiful. Simply put, there is no longer an exclusive quality to being good-looking, while it used to be once solely attributed to luck and the gene lottery. As such, a beauty pageant no longer has the appeal factor to viewers due to the dropping standards of beauty, therefore fallen out of favours from the general public as it fails to fulfil its role as a beauty pageant.
Celebrating Diversity
Of course, it is undeniable that the rise of contestants such as Kirsten Ashley whose very presence revolt against the ‘sameness’ of beauty standards is a breath of fresh air. Criticisms aside, these women are a source of inspiration for many young ladies, serving as a real-life example that beauty cannot be defined within the realm of four walls. Furthermore, the low barriers to entry for Miss Hong Kong means that there’s a greater diversity of female contestants who can participate in the pageant, implying a wider spectrum of ethnicities amongst the contestants. The 2020 Miss Hong Kong winner, Lisa Tse[2] is Eurasian – half Scottish, half Chinese, thereby standing out from the past winners of the pageant who are mostly monoracial. The diversification of Miss Hong Kong contestants celebrates the different types of beauties amongst Hong Kong women which are not restricted to traditional Asian beauty standards, hence pointing to some semblance of value in Miss Hong Kong.
A Ticket to the Hong Kong Dream
To understand why Miss Hong Kong had been so electrifying for our parents’ generation, it was important to understand what it stood for to these young contestants through the lens of the Hong Kong dream. As one of the four Asian Tigers in the 20th century and a small city of rapid industrialisation, Hong Kong was a golden land for immigrants in search of a better life, or refugees fleeing war and social tensions. This meritocratic narrative – that if you work sufficiently hard enough, you could rise above and attain a better life – also dominated Hong Kong films. Chungking Express by Wong Kar Wai poignantly portrayed the zeitgeist of Hong Kong: its portrayal of the fast-paced life with the frantic camerawork, the isolation faced by each of the characters in the cavernous, vast city, as well as their working hard to achieve their big dreams. Likewise, Miss Hong Kong was also such an opportunity for young girls, as winners could gain direct access to the entertainment industry and rewrite their destiny. Indeed, most of them eventually emerged to be superstars, or to have married businessmen husbands[3]. While these young girls might not have the most privileged upbringing, Miss Hong Kong represented to them all the prospects of riches and glory which could bring about a 180 to their fate. Hence, the beauty pageant was not merely a casual form of entertainment as it is today, but a ticket to a better life.
A Different World for Modern Women
Modern women are unfortunately quite different. With gender equality becoming more of a reality in the 21st century, women have much more opportunities to success than before, therefore they can capitalise on a lot more of their personal qualities to fight for a better future. Beauty isn’t the only asset that modern women possesses. In fact, it is the cheapest, and the most unworthy one. Participating in beauty pageants are no longer the only way for a woman to alter her living prospects, and whether or not it can even bring a significant change is debatable. While the media coverage of the pageant is undeniable, beauty pageants no longer offer such dramatic transformations to the winners as compared to the past century, with Lisa Tse even claiming that her acting career with TVB was her lowest paying job. 2015 Miss Hong Kong winner Louisa Mak[4] also remarked that the pageant was only a ‘physical means to celebrate beauty’, hence her participation in the pageant was a means of self-expression. Needless to say, the pageant is no longer the high-stakes ticket it had been years back. It begins to offer less and mean much less, therefore leading to its dying popularity.
A Superficial Contest in the Age of Feminism
Lastly, the rise of feminism entails that women are seen as individuals with vitality and spirit, and such a superficial contest like Miss Hong fails to capture the non-physical traits of women in a favourable light. There has been much voices of dissent discrediting pageants Miss Hong Kong for objectifying women, given the mandatory swimsuit section for the contestants in the preliminary stage. Miss Helen Yu[5], a female member of police watchdog criticises the pageant for making the contestants expose so much skin, asserting that it is not necessary. Furthermore, such events are also often put down for being degrading with its excessive focus on physical looks, projecting an unrealistic standard of beauty for young women. While Miss Hong Kong may brand itself to celebrate beauty and intelligence the same time, it is ridiculous to think that the audience watches Miss Hong Kong to look out for intelligent women when there are thousands of more renowned game shows testing the contestants’ intelligence. No doubt the biggest attracting factor of Miss Hong Kong still is, and will always be its role as a beauty contest, and judging the contestants’ worth based on their physical appearances.
As John Galbraith once said, ‘there is certainly no absolute standard of beauty, [which] makes its pursuit so interesting.’ Indeed, the once revered beauty pageant is an interesting lens in which through we can scrutinise the issue of beauty standards for women in our modern society. While the pageant can never get back to the boon in the pre-internet age, it should adapt to the changing times if it wishes to maintain consistent viewership.
References:
- “‘I come from Tung Chung’: Meet Kirsten Ashley, the Miss Hong Kong Hopeful behind the Viral Joke.” Coconuts Hong Kong, July 2 2021, https://coconuts.co/hongkong/lifestyle/miss-hong-kong-kirsten-fok-tung-chung-lenar-bata-interview/
- Cherry Chan, “How Lisa Tse went from Scottish nurse to Canto star: Miss Hong Kong 2020 now stars in TVB’s Come Home Love: Lo and Behold, but it’s a food tech start-up investment that’s raking in her millions”, SCMP, Feb 25 2022, https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3168345/how-lisa-tse-went-scottish-nurse-canto-star-miss-hong
- “Look at us…please”, Global Times Published, August 29 2013, https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/807335.shtml
- Heidi Hsia, “Louisa Mak: Miss Hong Kong is just a platform”, yahoo! news, September 9 2015, https://sg.news.yahoo.com/louisa-mak-miss-hong-kong-just-platform-032000903.html
- Jess Ma, “Are beauty contests disparaging? The Post examines pros and cons after controversy erupted around this year’s Miss Hong Kong pageant”, Hong Kong Society, September 24 2022, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3193692/are-beauty-contests-disparaging-post-examines-pros-and-cons