A white lily is the first thing that comes to mind when looking at Dai Xiaoyi, the winner of this year's China top model title.
Dressed in a casual white coat and sporting long lustrous hair, the 20-year-old sits quietly amid the continuous flashlights of photographers. Bejeweled with shining black eyes, her young face without a trace of makeup, is surprisingly delicate and fair like flawless china.
The girl, of 179 cm with vital statistics of 83, 60 and 90cm, was a born supermodel.
But Dai's record speed at making fame has surprised everyone. Stepping into the model circuit less than two years ago, she has won almost all the important awards, from the China Professional Models' Contest to this year's laurel of top model by the China Fashion Association, the Oscars of the industry. Before her, all other established Chinese supermodels like Mary Ma, Jiang Peilin, Wang Min and Wei Jie, all struggled for at least six or seven years to reach the peak.
But fame does not leave much of a trace on the girl as she steps off the catwalk. Reporters find her clothes are of unknown brands and there is no jewellery except a broad green waistband. Carrying a faint smile, the girl calmly answers the questions of reporters, but mostly in only two or three sentences.
"I am an introverted person and don't like talking," she explained.
Besides working, Dai leads a very simple life, going to the gymnasium and reading books at home fills up most of her leisure time.
The gym is a habit formed in Dai's past years of hard training. Few people notice the thick calluses and scars on her hands. When questioned about this she answers:"It's because I used to be a fencer."
Born in Qingdao, Shandong Province, Dai was quite thin and weak as a child. Her parents then sent her to a fencing training centre, to build up her body. But with a surprising talent, the girl soon grew to be an excellent fencer and won her category in the National Youth Fencing Contest. "At that time my dream was to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games," Dai recalled. She spent all her time in training and only went home once a month. When her parents found more and more wounds on Dai's body, they began to have regrets.
Her mother then decided to find another direction for her daughter to follow. She then encouraged Dai to attend the Chinese national competition of professional models.
"I didn't feel nervous on the catwalk, since I knew nothing of modeling. At that time all I was thinking of was getting back to training after it was over," Dai confessed.
Dai won the contest, opening the gates of success for the then 18-year-old girl. As more and more chances fell her way, she finally decided to take the shortcut and put down her sword.
"But I still love fencing. If it all goes wrong I'll open a fencing club and teach it."
The experience of being an athlete has also endowed Dai with the right frame of mind for her career. "Many say that modeling is a fierce competitive profession, with a high elimination rate and short career. But I'm not afraid since the challenges are the same as if I chose to be an athlete," she admitted.
Fencing has also bestowed her with endurance as Dai seldom complains about the high pressure and her heavy workload. During China's fashion week, she gave 12 shows, sleeping very little.
"If you don't work harder and give more, where will the opportunity to win come from?" She asked.
Before each show, Dai has a long discussion with the designer and director so as to fully understand their ideas. According to her, the best models give a complete show of the style and touch of the designs as well as giving the best photographing effects.
Dai admits that she has learned a lot from other art forms like ballet, Peking opera and modern dance. "Sometimes when you use it on your catwalk, it creates a unique effect."
(China Daily December 27, 2005)
