China gives thumbs-down to 'American Idol' imitators

Zhou Dong is a polite, articulate boy-next-door type who reveres his parents. If the government is to be believed, he is also a threat to China's moral fabric. The 26-year-old travel agency employee in the central Chinese city of Changsha is one of thousands of young men across the country hoping to enter "Happy Boy," China's new all-male answer to "American Idol".

"I love to sing, and I just want to have the chance to express my love for my parents for everyone to hear,"

 Zhou says while relaxing in a coffee shop in Changsha, home to "Happy Boy's" producers, Hunan Satellite TV.

Crooning a few bars from a syrupy Chinese love ballad, Zhou clearly seems guilty of little more than an inability to hit the high notes.

But China's government sees it differently.

The successor to Hunan Satellite's smash hit "Super Girl," "Happy Boy" is one of many Western-inspired reality shows whose success has triggered a crackdown by a Communist Party apparently sensing a destabilising cultural threat.

"Many (reality shows) are low-quality, low-brow programmes only catering to the bottom end of the market," Wang Taihua, head of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, said in January.

The administration, which acts as the government's TV censor, last week issued a thumbs-down directly at "Happy Boy" that was worthy of Simon Cowell, American Idol's famously acerbic judge.

"No weirdness, no vulgarity, no low taste," it told Hunan Satellite as it listed 11 restrictions for this year's series. Contestants must only sing "healthy and ethically inspiring" songs, while the show must not indulge in "gossip". No one aged under 18 is allowed to apply.

The censor's notice said the rules were aimed at "preparing a good atmosphere" in society ahead of the ruling Communist Party's five-yearly National Congress late this year.

"The government worries that the popularity of this type of entertainment will destroy the mainstream ideology of the party," said Zhu Dake, a professor of Chinese culture at Shanghai's Tongji University.

"Today's culture of entertainment is a double-edged sword; it brings profits but also can cause the collapse of more refined cultural values." China's leaders have declared past wars on various forms of "spiritual pollution," but face a formidable foe in the reality show phenomenon.

Three years ago, Hunan Satellite launched its first talent show in Changsha -- ironically, a short drive from the birthplace of the founder of Communist China Mao Zedong.

"Super Girl's" huge popularity -- and profitability -- won it a national audience and spawned myriad imitators among revenue-hungry local and regional broadcasters. Even Beijing-based party flagship China Central Television piled in.

Since then, up to 500 reality shows have been created, ranging from a search for the next Beijing Opera star to a programme where well-off urbanites temporarily swap lives with poor farmers.

The Idol-style fare, however, has proven particularly popular in a music-loving society where people often unabashedly burst into song in elevators, checkout lines and other public sites.

Last year's "Super Girl" finale drew one of the highest television audiences in Chinese history, with an estimated 400 million viewers tuning in. "The impact (of such shows) has been huge, both on culture and business. But people born in the 1980s or '90s are sinking into a mess of fanaticism and confusion," said Ma Xiangwu, a culture critic at People's University in Beijing.

"I think the government and central authorities are very worried about this." Yet many see greed behind an official backlash that seems particularly focused on Hunan Satellite. Speculation was rife that the broadcaster would be banned from airing another season this year. This was averted only when Hunan province's Communist Party boss personally flew to Beijing to plead for leniency for the provincial cash cow, according to various media reports.

It gained the green light last month, but only by changing to an all-male format and jettisoning its valuable brand name in favour of the childish "Happy Boy".

Theories abound for the change, but it threw Hunan Satellite's advertising strategy into disarray and was widely seen as an attempt to prevent the market leader from hoarding too much of the pie.

"This was about competition. No question," said Hunan Satellite TV newscaster Zhang Dandan.

"'Super Girl' was built into a powerful brand name, so this is a big blow for Hunan TV."

How big remains to be seen. The broadcaster -- which received well over 100,000 entries for Supergirl last year -- began accepting entries for "Happy Boy" last month.

But the popularity and profitability of such shows could mean they will remain a cultural thorn in the Communist Party's side for some time, Ma said.

"To completely ban these shows would be inappropriate. The media, society and business world demand them. Entertainment and business are becoming one in China," he said.

As he prepared to enter, Zhou remained bemused about all the fuss.

"I'm not trying to become a star. This is just fun and a valuable personal experience.

Young Chinese just want to be able to express themselves."