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For years China has been known for its generous deployment of bikini models to spice up industry conferences and meetings. But news that scantily clad models were recently recruited to enliven the country's first 'dairy cow beauty pageant' is being described some as utterly - or should that be udderly? - ridiculous. 众所周知，多年来，中国的行业会展和会议都不惜花钱聘请比基尼模特来活跃气氛。但前不久，全国首届“奶牛选美大赛”也招募穿着清凉的模特来助兴，一些人说这未免太荒唐了。 Designed to promote the dairy industry of Shanyin County in the central Chinese province of Shanxi, the weekend contest pitted more than 200 cows against each other based on looks, milk and pedigree. 为了推广山西省山阴县的牛奶产业，上周末举行的这场活动推出200多头奶牛，根据它们的外貌、产奶情况和家族血统来“选美”。 The concept is a strange one even for a country with more than its fair share of mystifying events. But it's the eight bikini models hired for the bovine pageant and made to pose awkwardly next to, and even milk, the cows that has churned the controversy. 中国各种让人莫名其妙的活动挺多，然而上述做法还是够另类。引起争议的是奶牛选美活动聘请的那八名比基尼模特。她们在奶牛旁边笨拙地摆造型──甚至还给奶牛挤奶。 Photos of the girls - all of them, perhaps understandably, wearing masks - spread around traditional and social media websites on Monday, and even earned an editorial on the website of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily. | 
