ASIAN DOLL: Chinese model Sun Feifei walks the runway at the Chanel Spring/Summer 2012 fashion show during the Paris Fashion Week on October 4, 2011 CFP

Liu is extremely hard working. The Chinese beauty began her modeling career in 2005 when she entered a local Chinese modeling contest to win a laptop. Following that success, she appeared in a number of advertising campaigns, runway shows and magazine editorial pages. Her success was such that the Chinese media nicknamed her Fashion Show Queen.

The 23-year-old is now ranked No.6 on the World's Top 50 Supermodels list compiled by Models.com, the highest ranking ever for an Asian model.

Another leading light in the Chinese modeling world, the 27-year-old Emma Pei, first appeared at the Paris Fashion Week in 2007. At the Christian Dior Haute Couture spring/summer fashion show in 2008, fashion designer John Galliano took Pei's hand, walked down the catwalk, and announced that she was his favorite model.

In addition to these names, dozens of other Chinese models are now making their present felt in the Western fashion world.

Market strategy

"All these models are aligned with traditional ideals of Oriental beauty - oval faces, wafer-thin body shapes and a demure aura. This makes them particularly fascinating on the catwalk," said Yao.

What makes these models even more competitive than their predecessors is the internationally-oriented education they have received, said a modeling industry insider. Most of China's leading models grew up in wealthy families and have no difficulty meeting the professional standards set by the Western fashion circuit.

However, despite the inroads being made by Chinese models, their success remains a tender shoot of diversity in an industry that has always been dominated by white models.

The influx of oriental models into haute couture is seen as a result of the growing spending power of Chinese consumers. Sensing an opportunity to cash in on the Chinese market, major design houses have begun featuring a handful of Chinese models in fashion weeks as a bid to boost their sales in China.

According to state media reports, Chinese models made 296 appearances for major design houses this year.

China's market for luxury goods is expected to grow by 20 percent annually for the next 10 years, said a 2010 report compiled by the China Market Research Group (CMR), a Shanghai-based consulting company.

The size and promise of the Chinese market is changing perceptions in Western countries. "Luxury firms choose Chinese faces to represent them, to create emotional intimacy between their products and the Chinese consumers they are targeting," said Shaun Rein, Managing Director of CMR.