BEIJING, Feb. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Chen Lili, China's first man-turned-woman, was denied entry into the 54th Miss World Competition Thursday by the headquarters of the contest in China.

    The headquarters in China declined Chen's application, saying that she is a transsexual and does not qualify for the contest, reported Friday's Jiangnan Times, a local newspaper run by the People's Daily east China branch, in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.

    The required female gender referred to natural gender, but Chen has undergone a sex change operation, said the headquarters in a fax to the organizing committee in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

    The Miss World Competition had never received such an application in its history of 53 years, said sources with the headquarters.

    Officials in charge of the contest in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, also announced the news at Thursday's press conference. They said contestants should be natural-born women. Chen's face and breasts have been remodeled, and it would be unfair to other contestants if she participated in the competition.

    The 1.73-meter-tall Lili, formerly named Chen Yongjun, is now as tunning fashion model in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

    Chen underwent the sex change operation last November in east China's Shandong Province, and picked up the new name "Lili", inspired by a popular Korean male-turned-female star "Harisu", or in Chinese "He Lixiu", who is her idol.

    Lili got her new ID card as a woman on Feb. 11 from the Nanchong police authority in Sichuan.

    "She has got a female ID card, which means she has the rights and obligations of a woman as regulated by law. It is unfair to deny her application," said Cao Gang, deputy director of the organizing committee of the Shanghai International Fashion Model Contest.

    As consolation, the organizing committee of Miss World Competition in Sichuan has invited Lili to show up on the first day of the contest on March 6 to display her beauty to the public.Enditem