With only three contestants left, fans of the hit talent contest "Super Girl" are hitting the streets to drum up support for their favorite singers, and a survey shows the series is a hit with both young and old.

    From left to right: Li Yuchun, Zhang Liangying and Zhou Bichang

Since this week, fans of Li Yuchun, one of the three finalists of the TV singing contest, gathered at downtown Raffles City every night, putting up banners and persuading passers-by to support their favorite contestant by sending cell phone short messages.

Initiated by Hunan Satellite TV, the program gives viewers a big say in the contest result, which also includes scoring by an expert panel. Viewers can send in their votes in the form of an SMS, which will count in the candidate elimination of each round.

Li, 21, has led the opinion poll in the previous rounds. The final show runs on Friday night.

Meanwhile, supporters of Zhou Bichang, another candidate who entered the final, also hold similar publicity activities in front of the Grand Gateway in downtown Xujiahui area this week.

Most of the spot attendants are young people around 25.

"People are in a mania about their idols, trying every means to persuade people to join the SMS vote," said Rebecca Zhang, a local office worker, who passes the vote-raising at Raffles City this Monday evening.

Market-Expert (Shanghai), a local consulting company, asked 2,873 residents on the streets of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and Hangzhou, about their attitude toward the increasing hot program.

Nearly 40 percent of respondents below the age of 45 said that they watch live broadcast every Friday evening.

About 5 percent of respondents over the age of 55 said they watch the show. About 73 percent of those who said they watch the show said that they hate to miss a single episode, and about 10 percent said they vote.

Qian Qing, an analyst at Market-Expert, said that the program's success is due to its low qualification requirements and interactive voting.

"The program emphasized that it set no limit on candidates' age, appearance and signing abilities, which means the Super Girls look more like your next-door neighbors," Qian said. "That interested many middle-aged and elderly people."

                   He Jie won the fourth place in the final contest.

(Shanghai Daily August 24, 2005)