Miss Hong Kong Winner Crowned: Doctoral Student Takes the Crown, Netizens Cry 'Rigged Results'

"The 2025 Miss Hong Kong Pageant Finals" successfully concluded on the evening of August 31, with 26-year-old Chen Yongshi ultimately standing out and being crowned this year's champion. In an official post-event interview, she admitted that she was extremely emotional the moment her name was announced as the winner. She said that throughout the competition, her goal was always to "be the best version of herself" and that she didn’t pay particular attention to rankings in order to maintain a good mindset, facing the competition with an "athlete's mentality" and trying to stay calm.
This year's contestants were both talented and beautiful, with Chen Yongshi—the contestant with the highest academic qualifications, currently pursuing her PhD at Columbia University in the United States—winning the championship. Chen previously studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and later obtained a master's degree in Technology Management from Columbia University. She is now pursuing a doctoral degree, making her the "academic genius" Miss Hong Kong. Chen's hobbies are rhythmic gymnastics and dancing. She joined the Hong Kong Rhythmic Gymnastics Team at the age of 10, becoming one of the elite athletes at the Hong Kong Sports Institute at 13. From 2012 to 2015, she won first place in the individual all-around event at the Hong Kong Open Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition.

She revealed that she used to perform through gymnastics, but eventually grew distant from it. One of her motivations for entering the pageant this time was to have a chance to enter the entertainment industry. "After retiring, there were fewer opportunities to perform, and while studying and working, I always missed the experience of performing. That’s why I decided to enter Miss Hong Kong, to see if I’m suited for working in front of the camera."

The first runner-up, Shi Yuqi, is also 26 years old. Her father is British and her mother is from Hong Kong. She completed her Master's in Finance at the University of Cambridge, graduating with first-class honors. She currently works as an equity options trader in investment banking, and also manages her social media accounts in her spare time—her Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) account already has 160,000 followers. The second runner-up, Yuan Wenjing, is 27 years old. She grew up in Shanghai and has only been in Hong Kong for less than half a year. She once stated that she attended the same university as Britain's Prince William. She is currently employed as a project manager at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She revealed that she started studying economics at age 14 until completing her master's degree, and started teaching economics part-time two years ago. As for other awards, 21-year-old Li Yinyan won both the "Miss Friendship" and "Miss Photogenic" awards, becoming another highlight of the finals.
However, the winner's result sparked discussions online. Some netizens believed that, while Chen Yongshi's academic background was impressive, she seemed to fall short in terms of looks and height, raising suspicions of a "rigged result"; nonetheless, there were also supporters who argued that her temperament and eloquence embodied intellectual beauty, perfectly reflecting Miss Hong Kong's long-emphasized spirit of "beauty and wisdom" in equal measure.