The 57th Miss World beauty pageant will be held on December 1 in Sanya, a tropical coastal city on the southern tip of Hainan Province, south China.

The resort city played host to the competition from 2003 to 2005.

Julia Morley, chairman of the Miss World Organization said her organization and Li Boqing, vice mayor of Sanya, signed the agreement on Friday.

Sanya is a stop on the torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, and together with the return of the beauty pageant can spark people's enthusiasm for the Olympic Games, said Li.

Li said Sanya plans to organize a delegation consisting Miss World beauty contestants to promote the city of Sanya and Olympics.

Miss World pageant is an international beauty pageant founded in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. After Morley died in 2000, his widow, Julia, succeeded him and is now executive chairwoman of the organizing agency.
 
(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2007)