By David Eimer on Hainan Island

It has taken five years of strutting and posing, and an annual fee believed to be worth £2 million, but China has achieved another of its global ambitions when a 23-year-old from Beijing was crowned Miss World.

Zi Lin Zhang, from Beijing, beat the other 105 contestants to become the first Chinese winner and the 57th Miss World, waving elegantly to her fans as the result was announced in Sanya, China.