[Ta Kung Pao, The Sun & Oriental Daily 23/01/05]

Miss Chinese International 2005 will be held next Saturday night and in addition to the top three and Miss Friendship, this year there will be a new award that is voted for by viewers in Hong Kong and China entitled "Miss Cosmopolitan Beauty" (directly translated). A special promotional event was held yesterday at a Mongkok Shopping Mall marking the beginning of voting as well as showcasing one of the prizes for the winner - a jade and pure gold sceptre worth a $238,888.

When the 22 girls appeared, they attracted the cameras of many passing members of the public and when they each introduced themselves on the stage, Tahiti's representative Elodie Chung was nervous about her poor Cantonese and as she stuttered her words, she became very embarrassed and silent as she just smiled. Then when she was being interviewed, she also revealed her bra that she was wearing under her dress. Afterwards, she explained that Cantonese is not her mother tongue as she speaks French or English normally. She only knows a little bit of Mandarin Chinese and no Cantonese at all. However, she wanted to give it a try though, even though it ended in embarrassment. There were other mishaps at the event as some girls showed their knickers whilst walking onto stage in their mini-skirts and some contestants were so nervous that they were photographed in compromising positions, such as adjusting their bra straps.

Although this was the first official public engagement for the girls, there were many fans there supporting the contestants, in particular Toronto's Lena Ma, Hong Kong's Kate Tsui, Amsterdam's Joyce de Jong and Pradubduen Sawankwan from Bangkok. When Kate appeared, her fans blew wolf whistles at her and she did not disappoint them, winning the vote for "Audience's favourite contestant" at the event, her reward was the chance to be the first to hold and parade with the winner's sceptre. She smiled: "I am very happy and thank you to the Hong Kong fans for their support. This is a great encouragement for me and has increased my confidence." With just a week left before the girls all return to their respective countries, Kate says she is starting to miss them already, so she is spending time chatting to the other contestants in the evenings and sharing their cultures. Yesterday was the first time that Kate had come into contact with the winner's mace and she smiled that she will try her best to win it and have the chance to take it home. She is also thankful to Mandy Cho for her support.

The hot favourite to win the contest Fala Chen from New York indicated that she was not disappointed that Kate had won yesterday because there is still another week for her to prepare. She admits that she is a little nervous, but luckily the contestants are all encouraging each other. She is not worried that she does not have the advantage of being the local delegate because this is an international contest, with entries from all over the world and everyone has a chance to win. As for the confidence to win, Fala says that of course she has it, otherwise she would not be able to perform to her very best.

The Co-ordinating manager for the pageant Chan Ka Yeung indicates that the judges for this year's contest will include Andy Lau, Cecilia Yip, Dr Robin Chan Yau-hing GBS JP EOE, The Hon Maria Chan Wai Chu and The Hon Henry Wu JP. The guest performers on the night will be Eason Chan and dancer Gigi Yiu and the show will be MC'ed by Cheng Dan Shui, Stephen Au and guest MC Joe Ngai. Mr Chan says: "Andy was very happy when we asked him to be a judge, so he agreed at once. As for the outfits, we will have swimwear, chipaos and 60's miniskirts."

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2005-1-23/UL-357006.htm
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20050123/20050123004808_0003.html
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a69cnt.html



[The Sun 23/01/05]

Jerry Lamb and his wife Lily Hong were spotted in Causeway Bay earlier, out shopping with their eldest son Lam Bo. It was an ordinary family shopping trip, but the only unusual sight was seeing Jerry wearing a carrying rack on his back, housing his young son, whilst Lily walked around with nothing in her hands. When passers-by mentioned to Jerry that he must love his wife very much, he replied: "My wife did the hard work carrying my sons, so now it is my turn to do some of the work. The rack was ordered from the states and comes in really handy!"

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20050123/20050123005153_0003.html



[The Sun & Oriental Daily 23/01/05]

Niki Chow took part in a Pet Lover's Computer Design Competition event yesterday and arrived half an hour late, but she immediately rushed onto stage and apologised. She indicated that this is the first time she has been late for an event and she feels very sorry about it.

Niki then revealed that since she was young, she has been an animal lover, often helping out as a volunteer at the SPCA, but through lack of knowledge, she inadvertantly caused the death of some of the animals: "I tried rearing a rabbit like a dog and gave it a bath before blow drying it, but it died. It was only then I found out that rabbits could not be immersed in water." However, she does not ask that her boyfriend is also an animal lover: "I have seen reports that when couples have arguments, they neglect their pets and this is very wrong."

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20050123/20050123005724_0003.html
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a59cnt.html



[Oriental Daily 23/01/05]

Nancy Sit did a show in the grounds of the university earlier, singing and dancing to nearly a thousand enthusiastic students. When asked if she had asked for a lower fee for the student performance, she said: "When I found out that it was organised by students, I did not ask for a fee. Usually when my daughter asks me for help, then I will offer my support, so I have never thought about charging other students. Singing a couple of songs justs makes everyone happy."

Nancy says that although she has finished filming for "Virtues of Harmony" now, her work for the near future is still non-stop. She will be heading out to America with Michael Tse and Louis Yuen for some stage performances on 26th, but as the show is not until 5th February, Michael has asked for everyone to leave him alone for the first few days, so he can have a pseudo honeymoon with his wife. Nancy's son will be entering university in July in America, so she will be looking around for the campus environment.

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a71cnt.html