Disaster Relief And Competition: 1946 "Miss Shanghai" Beauty Shop Behind The Scenes

In 1946, China is shrouded in War, famine and depression. Only one year had passed since the end of the Second World War, and Chinese civil war was coming. Shanghai, although still prosper in 1946, but anyone can see that it is the last radiance of the largest city in China."Miss Shanghai Pageant" is the most popular disaster relief effort which was organized by Subei Refugee Assistance Association Shanghai Raise Committee. The purpose of "Miss Shanghai Pageant" is raise money from all walks of life for Subei refugee who suffered from floods. In an entertainment form, this relief effort got everyone’s attention. As an innovative idea, a mass entry of "honest women" were mobilized to join pageant. About dozens of Candidates were composed by debutantes, students, public officials and artists. Finally compared with by the votes, the top three "Miss Shanghai" and "Queens" were elected, collecting about two billion Chiang Kai-shek’s dollars for relieve the disaster. All the organization, publicity, recruit and representation in the Carnival were leading the fashion trend, and branded by the time. And people involved in the relief effort changed their face more or less, became shock troopers of the age.This article will tease historical records about "Miss shanghai Pageant" by referring back to historical documents, browsing through literatures. This article fills the blank of the historical research, recorrects the legend behind history. This article will reexamine the connection between "Miss Shanghai Pageant" and its special historical background, analyze its unique innovation and influence in disaster relief, gangs in political, media development and women in public life.The problems we focus on include: the refugee organizations in the Republic of China and their trends, why Du organized "Miss Shanghai Pageant", how it fared, the difficulty in the early stages, how women attended "Miss Shanghai Pageant" and the paths in life of "Miss shanghai" and "Queen". This article strives to getting clues from "Miss Shanghai Pageant", joins them to painting the big picture of that age.