WHY BIG 4 MAJOR PAGEANTS? The Big Four or the Big League Pageants refers to the four major international beauty pageants for women – Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International, and Miss Earth. The group was first described by the China Daily newspaper in 2004 as “the world’s four major beauty contests”. In April 2008, the South China Morning Post described them as “four of the world’s top beauty pageants”; the same description was also used by South Korea’s leading newspaper, Chosun Ilbo in 2