Patricia Teresa Yuen Leung (born 1952) is a
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
n designer and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned
Miss Jamaica World 1973 and placed 2nd runner-up at
Miss World 1973
Miss World 1973 was the 23rd edition of the Miss World pageant, held on 23 November 1973 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom. 54 delegates vied for the crown won by Marjorie Wallace of United States. She was crowned by Belinda Gr ...
pageant.
Early life
Yuen was born to a
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...
Chinese Jamaican family in
Kingston. She began playing tennis while in school. She studied marketing management in
Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
.
In 1973, she was 21 years old and working as a salesgirl.
Pageant wins
Yuen entered the Miss Jamaica pageant that year, breaking an "informal colour line" which had seen women of Chinese descent voluntarily restricting themselves from participation in such events.
On 5 August 1973, she was named the pageant's winner. She went on to a third-place finish in the
Miss World 1973
Miss World 1973 was the 23rd edition of the Miss World pageant, held on 23 November 1973 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom. 54 delegates vied for the crown won by Marjorie Wallace of United States. She was crowned by Belinda Gr ...
pageant behind
Evangeline Pascual of the Philippines and
Marjorie Wallace
Marjorie Wallace (born January 23, 1954) is an American actress, television host, model and beauty queen. In Miss World 1973, 1973, she made history as the first woman from the United States to be crowned Miss World, but just 104 days later, pa ...
, the pageant's first American winner.
However, Wallace was fired from the Miss World duties after the pageant; organisers extended an offer to Pascual to complete the duties of Miss World for the remainder of the year, but without holding the title; when Pascual turned down that offer, organisers next turned to Yuen, who accepted. During the course of her duties, she expressed concern that "winners find themselves coping with financial commitments out of their reach".
Yuen's strong showing in the Miss World pageant elevated her to the status of a national hero in Jamaica, but also exposed her to controversy. While Yuen was growing up, the Chinese Benevolent Association had held annual Miss Chinese Jamaican pageants, but such "openly racialised" events ceased in 1962 after charges from Afro-Jamaican journalists that the ethnic pride on display there was "unpatriotic" and "un-Jamaican". After her win, she was forced into the awkward position of strenuously denying any connection to her Chinese heritage so that she would not "disrupt the official picture of the country's identity", going as far as to make public proclamations that she preferred Jamaican national dishes like
ackee and saltfish and entirely disliked
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from Greater China, China, as well as from Overseas Chinese, Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine ...
.
Two years later, Jamaica withdrew from participation in Miss World and Miss Universe events amidst public complaints that black contestants faced discrimination from judges and a lack of coverage by British news media.
Later career
Yuen herself went on to become a partner in Manufacturing Company, Ltd., where she worked as a costume designer; she won the Distinguished Salesman of the Year award from the ''
Kingston Gleaner'' in 1974.
She later married fellow Chinese Jamaican
Warwick Lyn, a reggae producer best known as the protégé of
Leslie Kong
Leslie Kong (20 December 1933 – 9 August 1971) was a Jamaican reggae producer.
Early life
Kong was born into a Chinese-Jamaican family. He had a "relatively comfortable upbringing" and attended St. George's College in Kingston.
Career ...
, and emigrated to the United States with him. There, she was the organiser of the Miss Jamaica Miami beauty pageant. She would later return to Jamaica, where she worked as a manager for
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...
in
Montego Bay
Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...
.
Ms. Yuen is currently a Senior Manager for Premium Services of Miami and Latin America for American Airlines based in Miami, Florida. She is overseeing the expansion of the Admirals Club, and opening of Flagship First Dining and Flagship Lounge in MIA.
References
External links
Photo of Yuenbeing photographed by
Les McCann and
Joe Frazier
Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He was known for ...
's manager Yank Durham after the 1973 Frazier–Foreman bout, from ''
Jet Magazine
''Jet'' is an American weekly digital magazine focusing on news, culture, and entertainment related to the African-American community. Founded in print by John H. Johnson in November 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, the magazine was billed as "The We ...
''
Photo of Yuenposing with
The Chi-Lites during their Caribbean tour in 1974, from ''
Jet Magazine
''Jet'' is an American weekly digital magazine focusing on news, culture, and entertainment related to the African-American community. Founded in print by John H. Johnson in November 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, the magazine was billed as "The We ...
''
Photo of Yuenat the 2008 Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, from ''
The Gleaner
''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica.
It is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Western Hemisphere. Original ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuen, Patsy
1952 births
Living people
Jamaican emigrants to the United States
Jamaican people of Chinese descent
American people of Chinese descent
American people of Hakka descent
Miss World 1973 delegates
Miss Jamaica World winners