Foreign Correspondent

Miss Tibet

It's unquestionably the world's highest national beauty pageant, it may also be the world's smallest but it must be right up there with the strangest. Certainly when you think of Tibet you're far more likely to think of the Dalai Lama, Buddhist spirituality and the struggle for an independent homeland. You're less likely to summon images of a wanna-be Donald Trump-style impresario in silver threads, swimsuit shoots by mountain streams and beautiful girls aiming to be the next top beauty on top of the world. That's the Miss Tibet pageant and - perhaps surprisingly - it's as catty and competitive as any beauty contest. But is it, as its promoter claims, all about liberation and empowerment or is it a cynical exercise in exploitation? And what will the Dalai Lama make of it all?