The final of the China Elite Model Contest will be held at the Pierre Cardin Theater in Paris from Sept. 28th through Oct. 6th.

Sponsored by a Shenzhen-based cigarette company, the Chinese Culture Year event is one of a series of activities promoting the International Cultural Industry Fair to be held in Shenzhen from Nov. 18 through 22.

With the theme, Fashion China, 19 Chinese contestants will compete with their French counterparts at the end of the month. It will be the first time China has sent such a large group of models to compete in a high-level international beauty contest, organizers said.

So far, more than 300 girls have entered eliminations throughout China. A total of 30 contestants will compete in the finals in Paris.

A grand ceremony will be held at the People's Congress Hall in Beijing on Oct. 22, featuring a new series of Piere Cardin fashions. The ceremony, a highlight of the Chinese Culture Year and a prelude for the France Culture Year, will be telecast live by CCTV channel 4 and French Fashion TV, said organizers.

Initiated in 1999 by French President Jaques Chirac and former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the China-France Culture Year is the largest cultural-exchange activity hosted by China and a foreign country.

 
Editor: Catherine