On Dec. 8, Maria Rincon was crowned as Miss Chinese Vancouver 2016.
The 22-year-old beauty queen is a graduate of Simon Fraser University with a communications degree.
Before joining the pageant, she worked as a host for a local TV show.
Having a Chinese mother and a Columbian father, Maria grew up in a multi-lingual family. She can fluently speak Mandarin, Spanish and English and is now learning French and Cantonese.
Aside from her language skills, Maria stands out with her talent in dancing. At the age of 4, she studied different dance genres including traditional Chinese dance, ballet, hip-hop and belly dancing.
Her competencies helped her compete with nine other beautiful contestants for the crown in this year’s pageant final, organized by Fairchild TV to raise fund for the Richmond Hospital Foundation.
The pageant was filled with exciting performances from the contestants and guest performers. Maria, along with other contestants, performed “Shining Beauty from Within” with the handsome boys from Project Boyz Power.
Each contestant also showed off their talents. Maria performed a rap and hip-hop dance number while other contestants perform different genres of dances.
The contestants also wowed the crowd during the couture, swimsuit, and long-gown segment. Afterward, their eloquence was tested during the Q&A segment.
Throughout the competition, the contestants showed off their beauty and talents which made it hard for the judges to pick the winner. In the end, the judging panel, composed of legendary actress Lynn Hsieh, renowned actor Patrick Poon, Paralympian Stephie Chan, artist Aixinjueluo Yu Ting, and beauty queen Cindy Zhong, has chosen Maria Rincon as the champion.
Aside from being the champion, Maria also received three other awards: the “Airland My Dream Girl Award,” “Lugaro Jewellers Dazzling Flair Award” and “Dr. Bee Charming Smile Award.”
Other awardees include 1st runner-up Prenda Wang and 2nd runner-up Sherry Xue. The runner-ups also won special awards including “Yubao Red Reishi Miss Photogenic” and “Korea HanYinHong Contemporary Beauty Award” for Prenda Wang, and “Anna International Perfect Silhouette Award” for Sherry Xue.
As the champion, Maria Rincon will represent Vancouver in the upcoming Miss Chinese International Pageant 2017 to be held in Malaysia.