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Everybody thinks they've got talent

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While 2005 "Super Girl" champion Li Yuchun is now a real pop star, the finalist "duck neck" singing couple from last year's "China's Got Talent" is still running a store selling duck necks in Shanghai. And there are a lot more "duck neck" contestants than swans in China's ever-popular talent and reality TV shows.

Li Yuchun.[File photo]

The reality that fame is fleeting or unattainable hasn't affected the aspirations of millions of Chinese, mostly young people, who think they've got talent or want a moment in the spotlight.

Nationwide recruitment is underway for the third season of "China's Got Talent," a grassroots showcase with a sprinkling of talent, quirky acts, plus sad or inspiring stories. And undaunted wannabes from across China are lining up to audition for the show that kicks off on November 13 on Dragon TV. There are 30 recruiting stages nationwide, including stages in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Of course, there are genuinely talented people and grassroots contestants whose lives have been changed as they have moved out of obscurity. But mostly, they are untrained and their prospects are dim.

"Almost all the star-making shows are fast-food businesses," says Li Tian, a veteran TV producer. "The contestants can give us many surprises. But that's all we can expect from them. Compared with professionals, they still lack adequate expertise and experience."

After the initial surprise and appeal wears off, their inadequacies also become apparent to the public. "It's impossible to maintain the public's enthusiasm," he says. "A star needs professional education in art and culture but people are attracted to grassroots performers precisely because of their ordinary background, zest and lack of polish."

"If they are over-polished to become a 'star,' they will gradually lose their appeal," says Li.

In the West, he observes, most people enter talent shows for fun, to showcase their interests and talents and don't pin all their hopes on a show, but in China more people tend to have unrealistic dreams.

The appeal of "China's Got Talent," however, lies in its lack of polish and sometimes rustic charms.

Winners are offered performing contracts with major entertainment companies such as Sony Music Entertainment and local Starlight Entertainment Management Inc. They are likely to be invited on TV programs and commercial road shows and paid for advertisements. But contracts may not be renewed and interest may well dry up, if there's no real talent or lasting appeal in an act.

As for agencies, criteria for a grassroots performer are different from those of professionals and people with training.

"We set lower requirements for grassroots entertainers in singing and dancing," says Fu Zhengguang, deputy general manager of Starlight Entertainment. "We are more interested in their potential, flexibility and inspirational influence."

Images can't be tinkered with too much, he says.

For example, Starlight rejected a client's suggestion that 2011 "China's Got Talent" singer Cai Xiuqing, a confident fat girl, should lose weight. "She might no longer have that appeal of an ordinary overweight girl who makes good," Fu says.

Shanghai Daily asks "where are they now?" and looks at some winners and runners up from "China's Got Talent" and other shows.

Super Girl

Li Yunchun, the 2005 "Super Girl" singing champion, is among the few grassroots stars who remains popular.

The music student attended the star-making contest on a lark, just to have fun and make friends. She was notable not only for her clear and fine voice, but also her boyish, non-girly-girl looks and behavior. She became a superstar when reality shows were really hot.

These days she performs in concerts, appears in fashion magazines and starred, to good reviews, in the historic action thriller "Bodyguards and Assassins."

She will appear in the 3D martial arts film "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" to be released on December 18. It stars Jet Li, Zhou Xun and Chen Kun. She plays a girl born into a bandit family.

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