CHINA: Beauty Contest

China, racked by civil war, inflation and famine, took time out to honor an old U.S. custom—the beauty contest.* In Shanghai, Miss Wong Yung-mai, striking a traditional pose, was chosen Miss Shanghai 1946, in a contest staged to raise funds for famine relief. Contestants were selected for personality rather than physical charm. Bathing suits were ruled out.

Not to be outdone, Japanese declared Miss Shizue Yamaguchi, 28, the most beautiful woman in the newly elected Japanese Diet. In the first election in which Japanese women have ever run, Miss Yamaguchi, a Social Democrat, was elected to represent Tokyo’s First District. When not legislating, she works in her father’s bicycle factory, where she is typist and sometimes head cook (see cut).

*For news of the No. 1 U.S. contest, see PEOPLE.