Most people had never heard of Zheng’an until its involvement in a beauty pageant put the Guizhou county backwater on the map, for all the wrong reasons.

On April 2, four departments directly under the Zheng’an County Government jointly released a circular on its website, reporting that a local girl, Chen Jinglin, had entered the fourth round of the 2007 Miss Universe beauty competition held in Chongqing Municipality. This in itself was not a problem, but the circular went on to urge residents to send text message votes for the Zheng’an-rooted contestant, which sparked countrywide debate. Critics of the Zheng’an local government said that officially calling for public votes to promote this contestant was a blatant abuse of power and questioned the functioning of this administration. The move was seen as one that damaged the authority of the government in the eyes of local residents and was criticized for not being in the interests of the people.

But Zheng’an officials were unpleased by the barrage of criticism and responded by saying that when Chen made it to the quarterfinals of the competition in Chongqing, she wrote a letter to the local government requesting support via votes from her home county. To assist with this, Zheng’an County officials encouraged locals to support her via short message votes during the competition.

Officials interviewed argued that loading votes for their contestant in the beauty competition would help to promote Zheng’an in the event of her winning, as well as attract investment, which in their view warranted their actions.

Zheng’an County, located in north Guizhou Province in southwest China, has a population of 590,000. It covers an area of 2,595 square km and depends on an economy that is agriculturally driven. Last year, its annual fiscal revenue stood at 50 million yuan with gross domestic product reaching 1.6 billion yuan. The per-capita fiscal revenue of local residents was less than 900 yuan, ranking Zheng’an among Central Government-designated poverty-stricken counties.

In the meantime, some people expressed sympathy toward Zheng’an, saying that they could understand why the local government was so keen on the beauty competition. In such a poor region, they said this unconventional way of promotion could be understood. It was sheer desperation to improve conditions.

Ultimately, Chen was eliminated in the quarterfinals, despite the efforts of the county officials and no visible benefits have found their way back to Zheng’an.

Every effort counts

Zhang Tianwei (Beijing Youth Daily): As a rural girl, Chen really needed the help and support of her hometown, not only for her own glory, but also for the glory of Zheng’an.

In this case, despite the official request by the government to vote for Chen, she didn’t win. Even if she had won, the influence of a “Miss Universe” title on rural transformation would have been limited. The endeavors of the Zheng’an local government revealed the desperation of such a secluded and poor place to promote itself to the outside world.

These underdeveloped areas seek to change their face through economic integration and will use every resource possible for the slightest chance of promotion.

Logging onto the official website of Zheng’an County and browsing the information available there, it is clear that the county has no competitive edge in attracting investment, neither with superior geographical location nor with abundant historical and cultural resources. As a small county 220 km from Chongqing, all it can boast is Yin Zhen, a less-known Confucianism master dating back almost 2,000 years, who was born there. For such a poor and scarce place, a Miss Universe could have been quite helpful for its self-promotion.