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Beijing 'Model' Citizen New Queen of World's Catwalks

There can be few better examples of the change of fortunes for Chinese women since the country's "open- ing" than Wang Haizhen. At the time of her birth 21 years ago, it would still have been unthinkable for any woman, no matter how talented and beautiful, to display herself on the fashion catwalks of the world, as Wang now does.

As with revealing almost all at beauty contests, it just wasn't done or even encouraged. The most the majority of educated young women might have expected would be an early marriage or a subservient position in, perhaps, a state enterprise.
Times have changed, momentously. Today more and more local women are becoming better educated and boldly competing with men, often for key posts. For many university graduates with special talents, the sky's fast becoming the limit, though total equality with men in the job market has still to be achieved.

Tall (178cm), willowy, stunningly beautiful Wang Haizhen considers herself fortunate to have quickly risen above all this. In two short years she has gone from studying interior design in Beijing to finding fame as one of the best-known faces in China, if not quite yet the world. She almost daily graces the covers of top fashion magazines, and is in constant demand to appear on the catwalks of the biggest names in haute couture. But there is every indication that she will emulate the likes of ageing catwalk queens Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss. Wang is very definitely the New Face that is already earning her a fortune.

Like so many young girls, Wang had dreamed of one day becoming a model but, realist that she is, quickly discounted the idea. The odds against success and regular work seemed just too great. She recalls, still hardly daring to believe her amazing impact on the fashion scene: "Just two years ago, I was studying interior design at college in Beijing. Before that, like most young girls, I had envisioned one day becoming a model, though no one really expected it to happen, including me. Models are beautiful, wear exotic clothes and live a glamorous lifestyle, and I could not see myself that way, beyond the dream."

Classmates and others who know her, and her ability to light up a room with her smile or have men literally drooling when she switches to being sultry and sexy, constantly urged her to give modeling a try. "They were very determined for me. Obviously, in view of what has happened, they were convincing, so I gave it a try," said Wang.

In 1999 she enrolled on a modeling course, and spent the ensuing winter and summer holidays away from interior design whilst trying to narrow the gap between her inexperience and the vast abilities of veteran models who knew every aspect of this tough business inside out. Her studies and continuing dedicated practice paid off, for her big break came when she won the 1999 New Silk Road Model Look China Competition, and with it a very valuable five year contract with the New Silk Road company.

Simply, it meant Wang's first big-time exposure, and fashion designers came running for her services, excited by the long-overdue first major new face from the Orient. At the Silk Road competition, fashion judges and members of the media also gave her the Most Outstanding Model award.

She hardly had time to catch her breath before a French talent scout arranged for her to compete in that year's famous Metropolitan Top Model Competition, in Paris. Wang came sixth, and still harbors disappointment at the placing. "I truly believe I would have been in the top five had my English been better," she said, shaking her head. "But at the time I could barely string together a single sentence in any language other than Mandarin. It was frustrating, and I was in tears over it." But it toughened her resolve, and she determined to throw herself harder into her work.

She was jumping the gun, because she was the only person disappointed in her placing. Within days she found herself showered with modeling offers from some of the world's top fashion venues -- Paris, Milan, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Soon she was being filmed for national fashion advertisements and magazine covers and "spreads", and treading catwalk after catwalk. She even starred in a commercial made by Academy Award winner Zhang Yimou, China's top director.

Such success would quickly have rushed to the head of the average young model. But not down-to-earth Wang. "I know that my modeling career is finite," she said. "It is just as important for me to prepare for the future as it is to make the most of the present. I will look forward to doing other things when the time comes, and I am leaning towards something in interior design or architecture. Where I go from here is still in the air. But wherever it is, I will be prepared."