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In Chinese TV talent show, older women stars compete to be pop idols, with Aaron Kwok among judges and Huang Xiaoming presenting
- Modelled on a 2016 South Korean contest, the show from Mango TV and Hunan TV bucks the trend of reality shows that put teenage unknowns in the spotlight
- Once Chinese internet users got over the shock of women in their 50s vying for pop idol status, some welcomed their participation
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Show business can be notoriously unforgiving in its treatment of female stars of a certain age.
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Paparazzi train their camera lenses on the wrinkles and crow’s feet on their once-unlined faces; good roles become scarce as they grow older, with many missing out on parts in major films and TV series; and once their names disappear from the screen or music charts, they are written off as has-beens.
So the latest co-production between Mango TV and Hunan Television, a regional broadcaster in China, is a surprise in an industry that prizes youth and beauty above everything else.
Announced last week, the reality show – whose title Chengfengpolang De Jiejie, roughly translates as “sisters riding the winds and breaking the waves” – will feature 30 Chinese female stars who are – gasp – over 30, vying for a spot in a five-member band. The programme will air in June.
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If you think this is some C-list production, it isn’t – some of the contestants are established and familiar names in Chinese entertainment. They include Taiwanese singer Annie Yi Neng-jing (52 years old), Chinese actress Ning Jing (48), and Hong Kong actresses Christy Chung Lai-tai (50) and Adia Chan Chung-ling (50), who shot to fame playing the legendary Jiangsu songstress Zhou Xuan in the 1990s in Song Bird, a drama produced by Hong Kong-based broadcaster TVB.
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