In America and UK, such programes like American Idol and the X Factor , send many normal people upto the vanity fair, making fame and money. Likewise, Chinese youngsters have televised singing competitions as short-cut to pursue fame and fortune.
If present singing competitions followed a lead from someone, I would say Super Girl 2005, held by Hunan provincial satelite channel, started a democratic showbiz draft, stablizing the contest format for the first time. From tryouts to fanalists, nearly 150,000 contestants were winnowed to 10. Behind this show, apart from producer team, it is people’s votes, which directly keep their favorite in the contest. On the finale, nearly 8 million votes flooded in to chooes one champion out of three. There she is. This not very girlie girl won the Super Girl.
Chunchun, nicknamed by her fans, is just an average university student. While her family has no relations or money, she has got the talent, and proved so by throwing a successful solo show in her uni before joining the Super Girl singing contest.
For a long time, the musical circle are wondering what Chunchun has to win, after the finale, because she is not the best at singing of ten finalist, nor she can dance well. Only that her voice is not a girl’s , makes her that special. Her fans all scream or weep while listening to her songs at show, not even hearing what she sings. She also never wear a dress or skirt at show, and that is how she wears as usual.
She is maybe a tomboy, though her kissing-a-girl picture spreads on internet. Nevertheless, she is loved by millions girls of all ages, ranging from 7 to 67. Her win is the win of overturing a traditional Chinese norm on feminility, which is what present day Chinese youngsters want.
Chunchun, to some extent, is a symbol representing today’s youngsters , especially girls, who wants more freedom to follow their own plans rather than fulfilling parents’ or society’s expectations on them. They are a generation with their vision blurred, unwilling to take responsibilties as their parents do.
Chunchun is an icon for millions’ youngsters in China. Her fans love her; her competitors’ fans love her; she has many female celebrity fans; she has many many female fans. There is no negative news except lesbian rumours about her. It is a miracle, that for the first time, we love a girl with no reason.
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20 responses so far ↓
1 lofi // Nov 15, 2007 at 5:18 pm
thank-you for this post.
You should look up Judith Butler to help understand this girl more. Judith is very short and looks like a man, but she has written some great stuff about gender performance.
Do not think that this girls popularity is an overturning traditional feminity, it is just a widening of what popular culture embraces.
2 Nonkidding // Nov 15, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Hi, Lofi, thanks a lot for your comment.
Judith Butler’s book is mainly on gender performance, which i read one named Undoing gender. I think her book tries to make a new definition for feminity that suits the modern ladies.
I agree with you that this supergirl will not overturn traditional feminity. Her fame however matters in the way that tradition feminity is giving way to a feminity desired by consumer-generation ladies.
3 PC // Nov 15, 2007 at 7:19 pm
I think it is crazy. This generation is really a lost one.
4 Jeff // Nov 15, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Wow…that’s wonderful.
PC, what do you even mean?
5 Jonathon Zone » Blog Archive » Chinese super girl // Nov 15, 2007 at 8:19 pm
[…] most famous girl in China. Girls like her, boys hate her.:)read more | digg […]
6 Robbo // Nov 15, 2007 at 9:06 pm
This generation’s not lost. They’ve found themselves. The generations prior have lost - and can’t get over it. Chunchun rocks! Embrace the future.
7 seeker // Nov 15, 2007 at 9:15 pm
wow,i think it is just a popular culture~
8 Aerosmith // Nov 15, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Dude looks like a lady.
9 FemaCamper // Nov 15, 2007 at 10:43 pm
She looks like a KPOP star.
10 BillIsGay // Nov 15, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Did I hear someone says “third sex is the future” BULLSHIT!!!!!!
11 Dana // Nov 16, 2007 at 3:24 am
Hi! Nice article… This girl is doing everything!
So cool….
12 Nonkidding // Nov 16, 2007 at 3:54 am
To BillIsGay
Third sex has many art talents.
13 Nonkidding // Nov 16, 2007 at 3:56 am
Chunchun is attractive despite her sex orientation. kind of unkownly. She is a nice and innocent uni student.
14 rahoorkhuit // Nov 16, 2007 at 6:04 am
What do you call the generation that happened after the pepsi generation? The Lost Generation
15 Eli // Nov 16, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Here in America, rumors of a female celebrity being a lesbian are considered totally hot.
Because we like lesbians.
16 David Mackey // Nov 16, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
17 Barry // Nov 19, 2007 at 8:27 pm
I don’t quite understand the stardom thing in China.But I do think everyone has the chance for miracle.Like American Idol mentioned in this article,ordinary people can show themselves in a decent way.But the key is that they should be talented first.And miracle can happen everywhere.Glad to see this wonderful girl presenting the unusual beauty of Chinese girls.Yes,she is quite different from my earlier impression of Chinese girls who must be traditional,shy and not willing to display themselves. But now,my idea is that Chinese girls are more and more open-minded,like the girls I knew from cncupid dot com (/)photo(/)romance.They are not only gorgeous but also brilliant.It’s a pleasure to appreciate their beauty and share their thoughts.Great Chinese girls!
18 Nonkidding // Nov 20, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Barry, Very nice comment. Thanks a lot.
19 Randy // Nov 27, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Is there any source of audio or video of this?
20 nonkidding // Dec 12, 2007 at 5:15 pm
To Randy,
plenty videos on Youtube, if searching with her name, but only in Chinese.
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