The 53rd Miss World Competition is to be held in the city of Sanya in China's southernmost Hainan Province, from November 9 to December 6 as scheduled, the first time China will have held the pageant.

Contenders from 117 countries and regions would converged on Sanya and the pageant would be televised live to those countries and regions, said sources with the Sanya municipal government on Sunday.

The cultural exhibition center, named the Crown of Beauty, is designed and built especially for this contest. Located by the scenic tropical Sanya river, the center covers a total area of 90,000 square meters with an investment of 120 million yuan (about US$14.5 million).

The first-phase project includes building a main building, a square, a parking lot, a cruise ship wharf and auxiliary service facilities, covering a construction area of 40,000 square meters.

The Miss World Competition, which was launched in 1951 in London as part of the New Year celebrations in Britain at the sponsorship of Eric Morley, who died in the year 2000. And his widow Julia Morley succeeded him and is now executive chairperson of the competition's organizing agency.

(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2003)