Super Girl facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Super Girl |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Interactive reality game show |
| Created by | Liao Ke |
| Presented by | Li Xiang Wang Han |
| Country of origin | China |
| Original language(s) | Mandarin |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| Production | |
| Production location(s) | Changsha, Hunan (1–3) Chengdu, Sichuan (1–3) Guangzhou, Guangdong (2,3) Hangzhou, Zhejiang (2,3) Nanjing, Jiangsu (1) Shenyang, Liaoning (3) Wuhan, Hubei (1) Zhengzhou, Henan (2) Numbers indicate the season(s) in which a competition was held there. |
| Release | |
| Original network | Hunan Satellite Television |
| Original release | 6 May 2004 – 30 September 2006 |
Super Girl (simplified Chinese: 超级女声; traditional Chinese: 超級女聲; pinyin: Chāo Jí Nǚ Shēng; meaning Super Female Voice) was a big singing contest in China for girls and women. It happened every year. The full name was The Mengniu Yoghurt Super Girl Contest, named after the company that sponsored it. It quickly became one of the most popular TV shows in China. After its third season, the show was stopped by the Chinese government. A movie called "Super, Girls!" was made about the 2006 contest.
Contents
How the Competition Worked
Anyone who was a girl or woman could try out for Super Girl, no matter their age or how they looked. People from 4 to 89 years old tried out! In 2005, over 120,000 people applied to be on the show. They traveled from far away to audition in cities like Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Henan, and Zhejiang. Each person had 30 seconds to sing for the judges. If they were good enough, they moved on to the next rounds. To make things easier, in 2006, they set a minimum age of 18 to join.
After the first auditions, the competition continued with preliminary rounds in five different cities. Viewers could watch these rounds and vote for their favorite singers. People voted using their phones by calling or sending text messages.
The regional rounds led to a weekly knockout tournament held in Changsha, Hunan. In these rounds, the two singers with the fewest votes would face off in a "PK" (which means "Player Kill" from online games). The singer with the least votes was then eliminated. The final competition was between the last three singers. Judges for the show came from different areas of society. There were also "audience judges" who helped decide.
History of Super Girl
The idea for Super Girl came from a show called Super Boy, which aired in 2003 on a local TV channel in Changsha, Hunan. Super Boy was a hit, so Super Girl started in 2004. It quickly became the most-watched show in Hunan province.
On 6 May 2004, Super Girl was shown to the whole country by its producer, Liao Ke. This happened on Hunan Satellite Television. The show also started in three other cities: Wuhan, Nanjing, and Chengdu. About 10,000 people tried out in each city, and the show became famous across China.
Hunan Satellite Television started the second season of Super Girl on 19 March 2005. The first rounds were filmed in five cities: Changsha, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, and Chengdu. By the middle of this season, millions of people were watching Super Girl, making it one of the most popular TV shows in China.
Super Girl's Big Impact
The final episode of the 2005 season was one of the most-watched shows ever in China. More than 400 million people tuned in! At one point, 280 million people were watching at the same time. This was much higher than the 12 million viewers for the finals of Pop Idol in other countries. Even though some people criticized the show, the third season still happened and ended in October 2006.
On 18 January 2006, China even released a special postage stamp featuring Li Yu Chun, who won in 2005. This was just before her twenty-second birthday.
On 11 May 2009, Zhang Liangying, who came in third in the 2005 contest, was invited to sing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the United States. The show was about "The World's Got Talent," and Zhang Liangying was the only singer from East Asia.
Some contestants who didn't win also became successful in music. Ji Min Jia, who was fifth in 2005, worked in Los Angeles on a song for a Japanese cartoon series. In 2007, Li Chun, who was a top 50 contestant in 2006, joined the famous Japanese pop group Morning Musume. Super Girl also inspired other TV shows to look for new talent.
Fan Power and Voting
A big reason for the show's popularity was that viewers could help choose the winners. They sent text messages from their phones to vote for their favorite singers. For example, in just one city's contest in 2005, over 307,000 votes were sent for the top three contestants. Each vote cost a small fee.
More than 800 million text messages were sent during the third season of Super Girl. Many fan clubs also started all over the country. Because so many people voted, the Chinese government decided to stop the show from having a fourth season. A documentary called Super, Girls! was made about the 2006 contest. It was shown at the Cambridge Film Festival.
Some experts thought Super Girl helped bring "cultural democracy" to China and changed the entertainment industry. Others felt the show was too focused on superficial things and was controlled behind the scenes.
The Show's Money Impact
The company Mengniu reportedly paid 14 million yuan to Hunan Television to sponsor Super Girl starting in 2005. The 2005 contest was estimated to have made a total of 766 million yuan. The show also helped other businesses, bringing in billions of yuan indirectly.
Advertising spots on the show became very expensive. A 15-second ad cost about 33,400 yuan in 2006, up from 28,000 yuan in 2005. Advertising sales were expected to reach 200 million yuan, almost double the year before.
Super Girl 2004
The first season of Super Girl ran from 6 May to 22 September 2004. The top three winners signed music deals, even though they weren't promised them at the start.
Final Contest 2004
| No. | Name | Chinese Name | Rank |
| 01 | An You Qi | 安又琪 | 1 (Champion) |
| 02 | Wang Ti | 王媞 | 2 (Second Place) |
| 03 | Baby Zhang (Zhang Han Yun) | 张含韵 | 3 (Third Place) |
Super Girl 2005
The second season of Super Girl aired from 19 March to 26 August 2005. There was some debate when Li Yu Chun won, as some thought she had the "weakest voice" among the finalists, but she received the most votes. Despite this, the top three finalists from 2005 became very successful singers.
Final Contest 2005
| No. | Name | Chinese Name | Rank | Vote of Final 3 |
| 08 | Li Yu Chun | 李宇春 | 1 | 3,528,308 votes |
| 07 | Zhou Bi Chang | 周笔畅 | 2 | 3,270,840 votes |
| 01 | Jane Zhang (Zhang Liang Ying) | 张靓颖 | 3 | 1,353,906 votes |
| 02 | He Jie | 何洁 | 4 | |
| 04 | Ji Min Jia | 纪敏佳 | 5 | |
| 10 | Huang Ya Li | 黄雅莉 | 6 | |
| 03 | Yi Hui | 易慧 | 7 | |
| 06 | Ye Yi Qian | 叶一茜 | 8 | |
| 09 | Zhao Jing Yi | 赵静怡 | 9 | |
| 05 | Zhu Yan | 朱妍 | 10 |
Super Girl 2006
The third season aired from 2 April to 30 September 2006. Shang Wen Jie won over Tan Wei Wei, who was a trained singer. This made some people wonder if Shang won because of her "Cinderella story" appeal, as she seemed to copy the style of past winner Li Yu Chun.
Final Contest 2006
| No. | Name | Chinese Name | Votes |
| 06 | Shang Wen Jie | 尚雯婕 | 5,196,975 votes |
| 04 | Tan Wei Wei | 谭维维 | 4,818,125 votes |
| 08 | Liu Li Yang | 刘力扬 | |
| 03 | Ai Meng Meng | 艾梦萌 | |
| 05 | Li Na | 厉娜 | |
| 07 | Xu Fei | 许飞 | |
| 01 | Han Zhen Zhen | 韩真真 | |
| 02 | Reborn | (None) | |
| 09 | Tang Xiao | 唐笑 | |
| 10 | Yang Lei | 阳蕾 |
Images for kids
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Six finalists during a 2005 national round event in Changsha, Hunan. From left to right: host Li Xiang, contestants Lin Shuang, She Man Ni, Yi Hui, Jane Zhang (Zhang Liang Ying), Guo Hui Min, Li Na and host Wang Han.
See also
In Spanish: Supergirl (desambiguación) para niños
