For China, taking third place in the Miss Universe contest the first time it entered a candidate might seem something to make hearts swell with pride.
Instead, Chinese officials are going to great lengths to completely ignore the contestant, Shanghai model Zhuo Ling whom Chinese media has dubbed an ugly duckling.
More than that, some media are questioning whether the seemingly bizarre way the 19-year-old was selected to represent her country this year makes her achievement closer to a scandal. The strange case of Zhuo Ling goes to the heart of China's deeply ambiguous attitudes towards women.
Although women are officially equal to men since the communists came to power " "holding up half the sky" in Mao's phrase " China remains a deeply sexist place which likes to pretend otherwise.
Two months before the 2002 Miss Universe pageant, Zhuo was strutting nervously down the catwalk at a remote resort in south China's Guangdong province.
"Hello everyone. I'm candidate number one Zhuo Ling. I'm from Zhejiang (province)," Zhuo told judges at the Miss Universe China, before hurrying off.
No other contestant emerged. Minutes later local cultural bureau officials marched in, declared the contest illegal and shut it down.
Zhuo was eventually declared the winner, booking her date with destiny.
However her remarkable success at the Miss Universe competition in Puerto Rico in May went barely mentioned in China's media, usually eager to trumpet any national success.
China's state-run television said it had no plans to show a recording of the contest.
Zhuo, meanwhile, is keeping a low profile.
She has given a very small number of interviews in her native Shanghai, but some correspondents have been cruel, even criticising her looks, calling her 'swine-like'.
The teenager has since fled overseas, and her family are refusing to let anyone know where she can be contacted.
Asked whether the scant attention Zhuo has received is due to her not having obtained permission to represent China, her grandfather said: "Perhaps it's because of this." But he added: "The whole family is proud of her."
