Kayi Cheung (;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: Zhāng Jiā'ér;

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

: Jeung1 Ga1 Yi4, born on 18 November 1983) is a Hong Kong-Canadian model and

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

titleholder who was crowned

Miss Hong Kong 2007 Miss Hong Kong 2007 pageant, the 35th Miss Hong Kong pageant was held in the Hong Kong Coliseum on 21 July 2007. Sixteen delegates competed for the title. Contestant #3: Kayi Cheung was crowned the winner by outgoing titleholder, Aimee Chan. R ...

and 1st Runner-up of the

Miss Chinese International 2008 Miss Chinese International Pageant 2008 was held on January 26, 2008 in Foshan, China, for the second consecutive year. The pageant was organized and broadcast by TVB in Hong Kong. Miss Chinese International 2007 Sarah Song of Sydney, Australia ...

. She also received the Miss Vitality Ambassador award. Cheung had said her goal is to become a successful programme host and to promote healthy living. Cheung is best friends with Tracy Chu,

Roxanne Tong Roxanne Tong Lok Man () is a Hong Kong actress and former beauty pageant contestant contracted to TVB. Background Roxanne Tong was born in Hong Kong, the older of two children. Her father, Tong Chun Chung, was an actor. She is the niece of Hon ...

, Angel Chiang and Jennifer Shum.

Early life

Cheung was born on 18 November 1983 in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

with family roots in

Chaozhou Chaozhou (), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, and the Sou ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

. She was educated at David Thompson Secondary School and graduated from

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

and

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...

. At the age of 9, her family moved to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Pageant career

In 2005, Cheung entered the

Miss Chinese (Vancouver) Pageant Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant (Chinese: 溫哥華華裔小姐競選), also known as MCV and formerly branded as Miss Chinese (Vancouver) Pageant, is an annual beauty pageant organized by Fairchild TV that selects Vancouver's representative for t ...

but she did not make the Top 3. However, she captured the Miss Vivacious Beauty award. She hosted What's On on

Fairchild Television Fairchild TV or FTV is a Canadian Cantonese language exempt specialty channel."Waging a war over a large, wealthy, educated audience ; Fairchild TV and CFMT are battling it out to deliver the news to Canada's Chinese community". ''Toronto Star' ...

until April 2007 when she returned to Hong Kong as an overseas contestant in the

Miss Hong Kong Pageant The Miss Hong Kong Pageant (), or Miss HK () for short, is an annual beauty pageant organised by local Hong Kong television station, TVB. The pageant was established in 1946, and acquired by TVB in 1973. The current Miss Hong Kong is Denice Lam ...

. Cheung was not a favourite to win, and was not considered a contender. When she was announced as the winner, the reception by the audience and the public was very controversial. What followed was massive criticism totally unseen in Hong Kong pageant history. The media and the public severely bashed Cheung for being one of the least beautiful Miss Hong Kong winners ever. TVB, the organiser of the pageant, claimed that the onstage performance on the final night was just part of the game and Cheung had showed very strong communication skills when meeting the judges before the final, which might prove decisive. The public were not convinced, and insisted that Cheung's win was fixed. The bashing continued to the point that there were informal polls among internet fans on whether there should be a re-election of Miss Hong Kong 2007. Nevertheless, Cheung handled the pressure gracefully and remained calm and composed whenever she was asked about all the harsh comments made on her looks. Cheung competed in

Sanya Sanya (; also spelled Samah) is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan Province in South China. According to the 2020 census, the total population of Sanya was 1,031,396 inhabitants, li ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

for the

Miss World 2007 Miss World 2007, the 57th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 1 December 2007 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China. It was hosted by Fernando Allende and Angela Chow. Zhang Zilin of China won the crown and succeeded Tať� ...

pageant in December 2007. In the pageant she made history by becoming the first Miss Hong Kong to win the

Beauty With A Purpose Julia Evelyn Morley (née Pritchard; born 25 October 1939) is a British businesswoman, charity worker, and former model. She is the chairman and CEO of the Miss World Organization, which organizes the Miss World and Mister World. She is the wi ...

award, based on her charity work for the "Wai Yin Association", a charitable organisation set up by a group of former Miss Hong Kong winners/participants since 1982. Cheung tied with Miss Ecuador,

Valeska Saab Valeska Alexandra Saab Gómez (born 7 May 1984) is an Ecuadorian charity worker, model, and beauty pageant titleholder. The 2005 ''Miss Maja Mundial'' title holder and, with Kayi Cheung from Hong Kong, the 2007 Beauty with a Purpose Challenge ...

for the award, so both advanced to the semifinals automatically. She is the first Miss Hong Kong to make the semi-finals since Pauline Yeung in 1987. The Miss World 2007 title went to Zhang Zilin of the People's Republic of China. In January 2008, Cheung went on to compete in the

pageant where she was met again with the same criticism and was not expected to win despite being the host delegate representative. Again she broke all odds and became 1st runner up. This was again criticised as being the result of TVB's "help."

Filmography

Films

*''72 Tenants of Prosperity'' (2010) *''I Love Hong Kong 2013'' (2013)

TV series

Kayi Cheung at chinesemov.com
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References

External links

Kayi Cheung's Official Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheung, Kayi 1983 births Living people Hong Kong emigrants to Canada Hong Kong film actresses Hong Kong female models Hong Kong television actresses Hong Kong television presenters Hong Kong women television presenters Miss Hong Kong winners Miss World 2007 delegates Naturalized citizens of Canada TVB actors