In February, Ms. Yang underwent a four-hour surgery in Beijing for her eyes, nose, mouth and chin. She timed the surgery so that she would be able to recuperate before the opening round of the Miss Intercontinental Beijing contest in May. It worked: she advanced from the opening round to become one of 30 finalists. But she was later disqualified after contest organizers learned about her surgery. Ms. Yang was distraught. Her plastic surgery clinic had used her face in advertisements, and she made no attempt to conceal it. ''I was speechless and really disappointed,'' she said. ''I did the plastic surgery because of the pageant, and I was disqualified because of it.'' She took her case to the news media and soon the Chinese press was carrying images of a tear rolling down her surgically improved face. Contest organizers made an overture to accept her back into the contest, but she said she felt insulted by how they had handled it. She has since filed a lawsuit on the grounds that her reputation was damaged and that her rights were violated because the contest rules made no mention of prohibiting plastic surgery.
