ABSTRACT
In February 1958, seventeen young women came to San Francisco from throughout the country to compete in the first Miss Chinatown U.S.A. beauty pageant. Sponsored by the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce (CCC) as part of the Chinese New Year celebration, the competition sought to find “the most beautiful Chinese girl with the right proportion of beauty, personality and talent.” The organizers promised that “honor, fame and awards … is [sic] ahead for her majesty in this, the most Cinderellalike moment of her young life.” June Gong, a twenty-one-year-old senior majoring in home economics at the University of New Hampshire, captured the title of the first Miss Chinatown U.S.A. Although she expressed surprise at winning, Gong had a history of competing successfully in beauty contests. She had won the titles of freshman queen and football queen at college. In 1957, she placed second in the Miss New Hampshire beauty pageant, a preliminary for the Miss America competition. She also won the 1957 Miss New York Chinatown title, which provided her with the opportunity to compete in the national pageant. Years later, she explained that the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. pageant was not “a beauty contest”; it was “more like a matter of ethnic representation.” Having grown up in Miami, Florida, with only a few Chinese families, Gong’s participation in the San Francisco event provided her with the opportunity to come into contact with the largest community of Chinese people outside China and to learn about her ancestral culture. 1
