Sarah Liu is a student of University of California, Berkeley Class of 2013 majoring in Business Administration. Working currently as a Financial Advisory Intern, she is from the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. She aspires to pursue a career in finance.

First runner up and Miss Asian California was Amanda Lee, 23, a 2009 graduate of San Francisco State University where she majored in Communications Studies and is currently a Client Services Representative. Second runner up and Best in Ethnic Costume, Nancy Kwong of Los Angeles is a USC graduate in business and a cutting- edge sustainable Packaging Project Director. Brijal Vadgama, 19 is a FIDM student and was crowned Third runner up and Miss Asian San Francisco.

Alexandra Calingo, 22, a UC Berkeley graduate in Anthropology was awarded Miss Photogenic and Miss Talent. Angellica Yi, 26, a Federal agent was crowned Miss Scholastic Achievement and Miss Popularity. Liza Chu was crowned Miss Congeniality. Coming from the Aloha State, Melanie Wong, 27, a Land Planner and a Doctor of Architecture was crowned Miss Community Service. And Tabitha Wong, 25, was crowned Miss Entrepreneur.

The competition is one of the longest running Asian American events in the United States. Twenty contestants from all over the United States competed, including contestants from Mississippi, Arizona, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Massachusetts, Florida, and California.

Historically, pageants play a crucial role in the immigrant experience of Chinese Americans in the West. After decades of mob rule, forced repatriation, and even lynchings which rocked San Francisco’s Chinatown, family associations (wui goon) and clan groups in San Francisco came together in the World War II period to begin a process of reconciling the community. Here were people that came to the understanding that America was to become home, and Chinatown the center of life. Opportunities to integrate with mainstream society were unprecedented the Chinese were fighting a war with Americans, side by side, and a sense of patriotism swept the community. It was during this tumultuous time that the Chinese utilized a uniquely American and popular medium the beauty pageant to celebrate and represent the community: pageantry.