Pageant rules impose a specific distance between girls' pupils and their ears

Sep 7, 2012 10:09 GMT  ·  By

The Campus Model website recently organized a contest to determine who the 10 best looking university students in the Chinese Hubei Province are.

In this particular competition, the contestants' busts, waists and hips were measured to determine who would be in the competition. The distance between their nipples was also taken into consideration, the organizers sticking to not more than 20 cm in this case.

In what was probably an attempt to determine whose features were more harmonious, the distance between the girls' pupils played a major role. The rules of the contest specified the distance had to be no greater than 46% of the distance between each pupil and an ear.

The rules of this pageant are apparently based on traditional Chinese standards for defining beauty. The organizers have proven extremely strict when reviewing candidates, GlobalTimes reports.

"We have based our criteria both on the traditional Chinese and more modern Western aesthetic values," website reps explain.

Many Chinese women protested to what they thought were ridiculous, humiliating standards. Among them was Gong Qi, a student of the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy and last year's runner-up in the pageant.

"I don't see any point in measuring the nipple distance, or setting up standards for body proportions. I would never accept such a rude requirement," she said.

Whoever is selected to participate stands to win around $1,500, and a chance to fame.

"The winner will be given a gift worth about 10,000 yuan ($1,577), and the chance to act in online dramas," contest reps advertise.

Many young women from 65 colleges in Hubei have already applied. However, this does not sit very well with their teachers.

"I don't think any normal student from my school would take part in such a contest. They would be ridiculed and laughed at," Yin Li, a teacher at the Wuhan University, argued.

This is not likely to stop the contestants from applying. After Miss China, Yu Wenxia, was named Miss World last year, pageants are receiving increased media attention in China.