Miss China Yu Wenxia, a 23-year-old music lover who wants to work with the poor, was crowned Miss World 2012 at a ceremony in Inner Mongolia, pageant organizers said on Saturday.

Wearing a sparkling blue gown, Yu waved to the audience in the Dongsheng Stadium in Ordos, located in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Organizers said Yu beat out 115 contestants, a record, in the highly publicized annual inter­national beauty pageant.

China also won the Miss World title in 2007, when model Zhang Zilin took the crown.

"I love to smile and I like music," Yu said in a video posted on the pageant's website, in which she talks about her study of Chinese folk music.

Sophie Moulds, a 19-year-old busi­ness student from Wales, took second place. Jessica Ka­hawaty, 23, a law student from Australia, was third.