A total of 108 Chinese and foreign journalists have been invited to cover the 53rd Miss World competition, which is to be held in Sanya City, Hainan Province, from Dec. 6 to 8.

Miss China 2003/04, Guang Qi, 29, poses with Miss World organiser Julia Morley (C) and Miss World 2002/03 Azra Akin from Turkey (L) after she won the Miss China beauty pageant in Sanya on China's Hainan Island September 21, 2003. Guang will represent China in the Miss World contest to be held for the first time in China later this year. [China Photo]

An information center is being built to accommodate the media, said a spokesman for the pageant organizers.

In addition to China's media giants like Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily and CCTV, foreign media, such as the BBC and NHK, were also invited.

It is the first such event to be held in China and a new step in China's opening to the outside world. In the late 1980s, a number of beauty contests were held in some areas and a failed attempt was made to organize a national pageant in 1988.

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