The 2005 "Super Girl" finalists, from left to right, Zhang Liangying, Li Yuchun and He Jie. [file photo: sina.com.cn]

The entertainment-oriented Hunan Satellite TV will restart its televised nationwide singing contest "Super Girl", which has been called off for the past two years.

The TV station has submitted an application to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. If approved, the preliminary rounds of the talent show will be launched in early April, and the final competition is expected to be held in May, a source from co-organizer E.E media told the Changsha Evening News.

As a warm-up for the upcoming series, a collective version of the show's 2005 season will be aired from midnight to 2 a.m. every night during the Chinese Spring Festival holidays, according to a news release on Hunan Satellite TV's official website.

Launched in 2004, the American Idol-like annual show became a smash hit in 2005, drawing over 400 million viewers, and launching the careers of popular singers such as Li Yuchun and Zhang Liangying.

The female-only contest was later replaced by a boy's version called "Happy Boy" in 2007, but neither was held in 2008 in order to make way for the highly anticipated Beijing Olympics.

(CRI January 21, 2009)