Miss NTD: A Pageant That Reminds Us Why Beauty Matters

A web banner for the 2023 NTD Global Chinese Beauty Pageant. NTD

The ancients knew that great beauty can just as easily launch a thousand ships and topple a nation as save it—if tempered by morality, righteousness, propriety, benevolence, and faithfulness.

These are the values a New York-based pageant seeks to revive.

After long hours of intense deliberation, the Miss NTD team has whittled down the number of applicants from the triple-digit range to a total of 40 candidates hailing from four continents.

Miss NTD (MissNTD.org), or the inaugural 2023 NTD Global Chinese Beauty Pageant, is part of a series of competitions that New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television hosts in its mission to revive traditional culture and universal values. These competitions emphasize pure beauty, pure kindness, and pure authenticity throughout the series, from bel canto to fine arts.

The competition seeks to showcase beauty holistically, said Lucy Zhou, co-organizer of the pageant, putting the spotlight on the virtues women upheld in traditional Chinese culture.

Ms. Zhou says this group of 40 represents the third round of the application process, which involved detailed interviews that graded an applicant’s understanding of traditional Chinese culture and willingness to learn.

So how does one go about judging an inner beauty contest?

An Understanding of Virtue

These 40 young women will participate in courses on traditional Chinese culture and presentation remotely until the live rounds in New York from Sept. 24–30, but scoring started long ago.

Each applicant was asked the majority of 20 questions that helped the jury gauge their personality, character, values, and understanding of society and traditional culture. They were rated not only on the answers but how they answered and carried themselves during the remote interviews, Ms. Zhou said. When the young women come to New York for the week-long event, they will also be graded on how they hold themselves, how they interact with others, and how much they learn and improve their understanding of traditional Chinese culture.

The applicants range from young ladies who have 10 years of experience in classical Chinese dance and extensive knowledge in Chinese classics and poetry, to those who grew up in the West with little knowledge but great interest in learning about traditional Chinese culture, Ms. Zhou said, so the scoring takes effort and growth into account.

Public Showcase

On Sept. 30, the two-hour Grand Final round will be open to the public, taking place at The Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase College. It will include talent performances, presentations on culture, videos showcasing the applicants’ backgrounds, and an evening gown showcase that features seven couture evening gowns by Shen Yun Dancer, the same team that creates the athletic wear and on-stage costumes used by Shen Yun Performing Arts under the guidance of Shen Yun Artistic Director D.F.

The ultimate winner will be crowned Miss NTD with a five-sapphire Phoenix tiara, a $10,000 cash prize, and a growing list of gift items (to be finalized).

There are several additional awards, including five runner-ups, the Director’s Award, and several “Best in” awards.

There is no swimsuit section; contestants will instead participate in a fitness-wear portion.

Miss NTD

The winner becomes for one year the global ambassador of NTD.

NTD stands for New Tang Dynasty, a reference to the peak of Chinese civilization. It was the era of culture, a golden age of poetry and music, and volumes of significant histories, literature, and encyclopedias were produced during this time.

Miss NTD will have the opportunity to travel the world and speak at many events, and is expected to be able to share the timeless traditions of beauty. Rather than representing the media company, she will be expected to represent traditional Chinese culture.

The five sapphires in the tiara represent the five fundamental inner virtues: morality, righteousness, propriety, benevolence, and faithfulness.

A Mission

Packard Motors owner Scott Andrews, who is sponsoring Miss NTD, says the pageant is “the spark of a fire” that can create worldwide change—a movement to restore the meaning of beauty. “And they’re being very brave to be that spark,” he said.

Pageant honorary adviser Jim Chandler, a film actor and producer, said the values of the pageant make all the difference. “Beauty is how we serve others, and how we use our gifts to serve other people. How we love and how we help others is what really makes us beautiful,” Mr. Chandler told NTD.

Honorary adviser Jacqui Phillips, a celebrity make-up artist, television personality, and author, said tradition is being lost in this world, but the pageant brings hope.

“Having wisdom and the inner wisdom and trusting that, and kindness. All those things are what sets this pageant apart. I don’t think there’s anything like it in the world,” she said. “If your heart is beautiful, it comes out and you’re beautiful.”

New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television is a New York-based global news and entertainment media network, founded in 2001. NTD’s mission is to uplift and inform society by publishing quality content that embodies integrity, dignity, and the best of humanity.

Tickets for the grand final and coronation ceremony are on sale here. Or call 929-999-1168.