{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2016}} '''Tsering Chungtak''' (December 25, 1984 – July 21, 2016<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=37854&t=1|title=Former Miss Tibet Tsering Chungtak passes away|last=Monlam|first=Tenzin|date=July 22, 2016|website=Phayul.com|publisher=|access-date=2016-07-26}}</ref>) was a Tibetan model and beauty pageant titleholder who represented Tibet at the 2006 edition of the environmentally oriented beauty pageant Miss Earth 2006. She was the first Tibetan woman to participate in any major international beauty contest.<ref name="phayul.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=14975&article=Heart-to-heart+with+Miss+Tibet+2006&t=1&c=5 |title=Heart-to-heart with Miss Tibet 2006 |publisher=phayul.com |date=December 6, 2006 |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.misstibet.com/history/2006/stories/20061206-miss_tibet_goes_global.html |title=Miss Tibet goes global | Miss Tibet History 2006 |publisher=Misstibet.com |date=December 6, 2006 |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref> Tsering pursued her undergraduate studies from Hindu College, University of Delhi and was pursuing her PhD degree in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She was working as a research scholar with Ayur Gyan Nyas, an organisation creating curriculum on secular ethics for students from class one to twelve.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
==Miss Tibet 2006 pageant== Chungtak, a student of sociology in Hindu college, University of Delhi was crowned Miss Tibet in 2006 at a contest in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, home to a majority of Tibetan exiles and the seat of the 14th Dalai Lama.<ref name="abcnews.go.com">{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3958947 |title=ABC News: Tibetan Quits Pageant Over China Title |publisher=Abcnews.go.com |date=December 30, 2011 |accessdate=January 3, 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227232102/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3958947|archivedate=February 27, 2008}}</ref> Born in Shillong, she was an alumna of the lower-Tibetan Community Village School. She also took the title of Miss Photogenic after securing 1740 votes of the total 3909 votes cast in the online public poll; held in the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), the finale of the Miss Tibet 2006 contest drew a large crowd of local Tibetan youth. She received a scholarship cheque of 100,000 Indian rupees.<ref name="tribuneindia.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061017/himachal.htm#1 |title=The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Himachal Pradesh |work=The Tribune |location=India |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref>
==Miss Earth 2006 participation== Chungtak competed as one of the 90 contestants in the environmentally-oriented Miss Earth 2006 beauty pageant.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=14652&t=1&c=1 |title=Miss Tibet participates in Miss Earth |publisher=phayul.com |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whereincity.com/news/5/11274 |title=Miss Tibet goes global! |publisher=Whereincity.com |date=December 10, 2006 |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.misstibet.com/history/2006/stories/20061112-miss_tibet_participates_miss_earth.html |title=Miss Tibet participates in Miss Earth | Miss Tibet History 2006 |publisher=Misstibet.com |date=November 12, 2006 |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref> Aside from her environmental advocacy, she used her platform to say that "Tibet is not a part of China"<ref name="tribuneindia.com"/> and "there is no freedom in Tibet".<ref name="abcnews.go.com"/> She also advocated for the boundaries of acceptable social etiquette towards modernity, in a traditionally conservative Tibetan culture, where most grown women wear ankle-length dresses. Nonetheless, her participation in the pageant received an approval from the Dalai Lama.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1017/p07s02-wosc.html |title=There she is, Miss Tibet |publisher=csmonitor.com |date=October 17, 2006 |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.xeni.net/trek/2006/11/miss-tibet-crowned-headed-for-miss.html |title=xeni.net/trek: Miss Tibet crowned, headed for Miss Earth pageant |publisher=Xeni.net |date=November 15, 2006 |accessdate=January 3, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080131121530/http://www.xeni.net/trek/2006/11/miss-tibet-crowned-headed-for-miss.html |archivedate=January 31, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> She made more headlines in December 2007 when she withdrew her participation in the Miss Tourism contest, a minor international beauty pageant held in Malaysia, after organizers reacted to pressure from Beijing and asked her to add "China" to her "Miss Tibet" title by wearing a sash labeled "Miss Tibet-China".<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/06/tibet.beautypageant.ap/ Tibetan beauty quits pageant – CNN.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226213000/http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/06/tibet.beautypageant.ap/ |date=February 26, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7129296.stm |title=Asia-Pacific | China 'forced Miss Tibet to quit' |publisher=BBC News |date=December 5, 2007 |access-date=January 3, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2007/12/06/rao.miss.tibet.china.cnn |title=Video – Breaking News Videos from |publisher=CNN |date=July 16, 2010 |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Dec05/0,4670,TibetBeautyPageant,00.html FOXNews.com – Tibetan Quits Pageant Over China Title – International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112115236/http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Dec05/0,4670,TibetBeautyPageant,00.html |date=January 12, 2008 }}</ref>
==Tibetan Olympics== Tsering led a run with Tibetans who live in Taiwan, at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Sunday, February 24, 2008, in Taipei, as part of the torch relay for the Tibetan Olympics to be held in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, on May 15, 2008. The relay for a sports event organized by Tibetans in exile to counter the Beijing Olympics arrived on Taiwan Sunday on the third leg of a 10-city tour.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://foto.rompres.ro/index.php?i=2245901 |title=Rompres Foto |publisher=Foto.rompres.ro |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref> The photo of Tsering Chungtak taken by Associated Press in Taiwan was the "pick of the day" of ''XPRESS Newspaper'', sister paper of Gulf News, which is based in the United Arab Emirates; the newspaper looks daily for the best photos from around the globe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xpress4me.com/photos/gallery.jsp?article=/channels/xpress4me_com/photos/insight/20005982.html&index=2 |title=Xpress: null |publisher=Xpress4me.com |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}</ref>
== Death == Chungtak died on July 21, 2016, in Majnu-ka-tilla of cardiac arrest.<ref name=":0" /> She was 31.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2016/07/22/former-miss-tibet-tsering-chungtak-passes-away|title=Former Miss Tibet Tsering Chungtak passes away|last=Staff|date=22 July 2016|website=www.tibetsun.com|publisher=Tibet Sun|access-date=2016-07-26|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20160723220212/https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2016/07/22/former-miss-tibet-tsering-chungtak-passes-away|archivedate=July 23, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
{{Miss Earth 2006 delegates}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chungtak, Tsering}} Category:1984 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Miss Earth 2006 contestants Category:Tibetan people Category:Hindu College, Delhi alumni Category:Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni Category:People from Meghalaya Category:Female models from Delhi Category:Tibetan diaspora in India