Miss NTD candidate Zhu Wandi says that traditional Chinese culture has taught her what self-respect is. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, the young translator says that traditional Chinese values and codes of conduct have allowed her to develop a different perspective on the world.
“By behaving with propriety, not only am I being respectful of others, I’m also being respectful of myself,” Ms. Zhu told NTD.
The NTD Global Chinese Beauty Pageant aims to promote the traditional aesthetic character of Chinese women and bring back pure authenticity, pure goodness, and pure beauty.
The grand final and coronation ceremony of the inaugural NTD Global Chinese Beauty Pageant will be held at the SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center from Sept. 24 to 30, 2023.
‘Beauty Inspires Goodness’
“I was born and raised in Vancouver Canada, which is a very multi-ethnic city,” Ms. Zhu explained. “I was very fortunate to grow up in an area with such a large Chinese community, and I think it’s definitely one of the things that kept me connected to my Chinese roots.”
Ms. Zhu said that in school, many of her classmates were Chinese. “At first I had volunteered to be a translator in the classroom—just because I liked being able to help. My journey to becoming a translator started with simply the wish to help others, and I like to use this experience to remind myself that in helping others, it gave me an excellent opportunity and an excellent environment to practice my Chinese. You could say I’m now almost a semi-professional translator.
“As I’ve learned more about traditional Chinese culture and values, I was able to develop a different perspective of the world around me,” she said. “There are also many codes of conduct in traditional Chinese culture; all these things are laid out very meticulously and very clearly. In today’s society where people are all about progressivism and breaking free of rules: For me, these moral teachings in traditional culture have really taught me what self respect is.
“By behaving with propriety, not only am I being respectful of others, I’m also being respectful of myself, which I think is just so important, because how can you expect others to respect you when you’re not even respecting yourself?” she asked. “I think traditional Chinese culture has also made me a steadier and more grounded person. Just because China has such a long history, there are so many outstanding historical figures to look up to and learn from. It has taught me to remain humble at all times, because that really is the best way to remain open minded and to always be ready to learn new things.
“Now it’s become very natural for me to think about things from both a Western and a Chinese perspective, which actually allows me to be more flexible in the way I handle things.”
My Understanding of Beauty
“There are many thinkers and philosophers in both China and the West who have argued that beauty is directly connected to virtue and to goodness. So I believe that beauty is a kind of goodness that touches people’s souls and inspires goodness in them. It’s actually quite profound, as it has the power to influence society in a positive way.
“By participating in this pageant, I’m able to be part of an event that could actually make a difference, that aims to promote and bring back traditional culture and values, which isn’t something you see very often in society nowadays. And it’s really just such an honor to be part of something that is so much more meaningful and so much bigger than just an opportunity to present myself. This would be a good opportunity to gain some experience, learn some new things, and meet other like-minded young women.
“My family has been so incredibly supportive and encouraging. My parents, my grandmother, my brother—they’ve just all had so much confidence in me, and I’ve just received so much positivity from the people around me. They were really always there to tell me: ‘This is 100 percent something that you should do, something you should participate in. I’ve also had so many friends, elders, teachers, go out of their way to help me without any hesitation, and I’m extremely grateful for all that they’ve done.”
