More than 200 students poured into the Mandela room Saturday night to watch a beauty pageant and eat traditional Vietnamese food.
Miss Asia, an annual beauty pageant put on by the Vietnamese Student Association (VSA), is a way to celebrate and display the many Asian cultures represented at BU. Saturday night was the fourth time the competition was held and featured members of groups such as the Philippine American League, the Korean American Student Association and the BU Japanese Association.
Kenny Blando, the president of the VSA and a senior majoring in economics, said Miss Asia allows all different countries and cultures to come together at BU.
“Many of the subgroups within the Asian Student Union have their major events in which they want to portray solely their particular culture of interest in their organization,” Blando said. “What makes this event different is that it is a celebration of a multitude of cultures put into one show.”
Pageant contestants were chosen by the VSA through an application process in which they applied to represent the specific country they are from. The nine contestants participated in a cultural catwalk, where they represented their culture through clothing, as well as a talent portion where the contestant could pick what to present.
The contestants showcased skills such as dancing, singing, stand-up comedy, and speed painting. Miss China performed a modern, hip-hop dance while other contestants danced more traditional routines from their home country, like Miss India who performed bhangra. Miss Philippines made the audience crack up during her short stand-up routine and Miss Pakistan painted a portrait of Nelson Mandela on stage in under five minutes.
The audience voted during intermission and decided on three finalists — Miss Hong Kong, Miss Taiwan and Miss China — to move forward to a question and answer round.
The judges of this round were Hea Lin Oh, the president of International Connection and a junior majoring in accounting; Ami Bhavsar, the winner of Miss Asia 2014 and a senior majoring in mechanical engineering; Mengchen Huang, the assistant director of the Multicultural Resource Center; and Isis McIntosh Green, a senior majoring in human development.
After the third round they announced that the winner of Miss Asia 2015 was Miss China, Yingyin Zhong, a junior majoring in political science.
“I don’t know how to feel,” Zhong said. “Honestly, I’m very honored and I still can’t believe it.”
The event also focused on women’s empowerment by displaying women of different cultures and their abilities. In addition, before the talent portion, each contestant had an introductory video in which they were asked questions pertaining to how they represent women’s empowerment in their respective countries.
“It’s mainly a show about female empowerment,” said Eva Chen, the graphics chair for the VSA and a junior studying integrative neuroscience. “Its purpose is to show different types of culture and diversity we have.”
Some guests appreciated the different representations of the Asian countries that were all featured under one roof. Yun Choi, a senior majoring in economics, said that he liked the fact that all of these different cultures came together.
“I think since Binghamton is so diverse in its population of students, it’s very fascinating to have all this culture come together and then celebrated in such a fashion,” Choi said.
Blando said that ultimately, he wanted the guests to see these different Asian cultures in a fashion they are not usually portrayed in.
“I want the guests to see through our contestants something they wouldn’t normally see through the media,” Blando said. “And to break the barriers of what they see through stereotypical images of each contestant’s country.”