The final of the China Elite Model Contest will be held at the Pierre Cardin Theater in Paris from September 28 through October 6. 

Sponsored by a Shenzhen cigarette company, the event is one of a series of activities promoting the International Cultural Industry Fair to be held in Shenzhen in November this year. The contest's theme is Fashion China. 

Nineteen Chinese contestants will compete with their 11 French counterparts in the finals at the end of the month. It will be the first time China has sent such a large group of models to compete in a high-level international beauty contest, organizers said.

More than 300 young women have entered preliminary rounds throughout China.

The competition was inspired by Chinese Culture Year in France, which ended in July. It is being held in conjunction with the launch of the reciprocal France Culture Year in China, which will run from October 2004 through July 2005.

A gala celebration featuring new Pierre Cardin fashions will be held in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on October 22. The even will be broadcast live by China Central Television and French Fashion TV.

Initiated in 1999 by French President Jacques Chirac and former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, China-France Culture Year is the largest cultural exchange activity between China and a foreign country.

(Shenzhen Daily September 10, 2004)