Shanghai debutantes savor their moment

The third Shanghai International Debutante Ball tries to set a tone for China's nouveaux riches seeking luxury lifestyles. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

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The chandeliers were turned off, and the candles were lit. The champagne was bubbling, and the multi-layered cake towered on the trolley. The Rolls-Royce drove up, delivering 12 young ladies pampered in exquisite white gowns and high-bunned hair, ready to be "crowned", at the third Shanghai International Debutante Ball, held in mid-January in the Shanghai Peninsula Hotel.

Daughters from the most wealthy and influential families in the country had expected to be invited to the city's perhaps most prestigious social event. Young women from less privileged families were glued to the media and social networks, eager to find out about the dresses, the tiaras and the hairstyles of the selected "debutantes" at the ball.

Zhou Caici, also known as Vivian Chow Wong, is the founder and organizer of the Shanghai version of the British high-society event introduced by King George III in 1780. For the past three years, she has managed to find domestic couture tailors, food caterers and PR teams for "her ball" to set a tone for China's nouveaux riches seeking the "essential luxury lifestyle".

Young gentleman escorts have become a staple "import" at the event.

Of the 25 boys who have attended the balls - some have returned for two or even all three - only five are ethnically Chinese, and none are Chinese nationals.

"It just happened this way, certainly not by design," says Zhou, who says that not many Chinese boys "have white-tie culture" today.

Zhou's criteria for escorts include good family background, private or British "public school" education, good looks and possession of white-tie (tail suit), or at lease a black-tie tuxedo. One rule that has changed is the age of the escorts, with older boys being preferred as "younger ones tend to want to 'party' too much", as Zhou put it.

Trevor Lai, a Canadian-born-Chinese now based in Shanghai, who has become a "veteran escort" for the ball, provides other reasons for the absence of his local buddies.

"Young Chinese are not often thrust under a spotlight, especially at a young age. So the idea of being thrust to an event like this is foreign to them, in many cases, and not necessarily as exciting as in Western culture," says Lai, who started his own animation company in Shanghai two years ago, and has been the host of an online talk show.

"In many cases, Chinese people would not be the first to volunteer to present in a group, or to do public speaking. It takes time," says Lai, whose background and experience have made him more outgoing.