Hong Kong beauty, Eunis Yao was crowned Miss Asia 2008 on Sunday, December 07, 2008.

Previously, winners were decided by a panel of judges. For the first time, the winners are now declared by the majority of the votes from the public.

Yao, 23, claimed 137,610 votes in a global poll, the website of the contest announced. She was also named the Perfect Figure.

Twenty-two year old Belinda Yan, who is also from Hong Kong, received 129,416 votes to be named runner-up and Miss Photogenic. Taiwan's 19-year-old Lene Lai was awarded third place with 60,542 votes.

The top three were selected by fans worldwide who voted for their favorite by either sending text messages or voting via the event's website.

This year's contest also attracted candidates from the Chinese mainland, as well as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Turkmenistan.

The Miss Asia pageant was launched by Asia Television Limited, a Hong Kong-based broadcaster, in 1985. Previous champions include Kristy Yang (in 1995), who went on to become a popular actress, and Nina Li (in 1986), wife of action star Jet Li.

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she's very pretty and i like her too! that kind of pageant quite very unique. congratulations to her and to the runner ups.

Yay Hong Kong

She looks pretty so she definitely deserves it.

she is pretty indeed. i love her dimples as well