Miss Peru, Maria Julia Mantilla Garcia, an aspiring high school teacher, was crowned Miss World 2004 on Saturday night in this southern Chinese beach resort.
Mantilla Garcia, 20, wearing a turquoise gown, blew kisses to the crowd as she was crowned. The title carries a $100,000 prize.
A total of 107 women from around the world competed for the crown in this beach resort on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.
"I'm very surprised but I'm also very happy," Mantilla Garcia told reporters. She said she wanted to do charitable work as Miss World and "help all the people that I can."
The pageant included performances by American pop singer Lionel Richie.
They included Australian television star Kate Ritchie, West Indian cricket legend Sir Viv Richards, Chinese fashion photographer Li Shaobai and Krish Naidoo, an Ireland-based businessman.
The hosts were British model Lisa Snowdon, Hong Kong television host Angela Chow and Troy McClain, a former contestant on the U.S. reality TV series "The Apprentice."
Both sides found the partnership so rewarding that organizers of the coming 55th Miss World contest announced on Friday that the London-based pageant will be held in Sanya in 2005 for the third straight year.