Lv Yan is from a silver miner’s family in De’an, Jiangxi Province. Lv began her modeling career in 1999, in which she was spotted by famous stylist Li Dongtian. Lv, with small eyes, a flat nose and a freckled face, is by no means pretty by the Chinese standards. However, the “ugly girl” grew up to become a supermodel on global catwalks. Lv went to Paris in 2000 when she was only 19 and rose to fame. In 2000, Lv won second place at the International Supermodel Pageant, the highest-ever ranking for a Chinese model in an international contest.