Importing Copyrights
The Karaoke-mad Chinese are particularly fond of music shows, but this is only one factor in the success of The Voice of China. One more important is the show’s pop star judges.
Forty-nine-year-old Liu Huan, who is incidentally a professor of Western music history, has the reputation of being the best male singer in China. The Voice of China marked his first appearance as a judge on any TV show. Liu’s participation generated tremendous excitement about the program.
The show’s format is also vital to its success. The live audience both listens to and watches a contestant, but the judges only listen – their chairs do not face the stage. If the judges like what they hear, they hit a button and their chairs swivel around. They are then committed to training the owner of the voice they’ve just heard – whether a beauty or not – for the next round of the competition. The dramatic swivel-around, change of expression on the judges’ faces, bitter comments, frank appraisals of looks and sharp quips all make the show a hit.
The Voice of China is also a stage for “small potatoes” to realize their dreams of stardom. In Chinese the phrase refers to ordinary Joes – truck drivers, country bumpkins, the “aesthetically challenged” and others who would have little chance of cracking the mainstream within the confines of the system. The only requirement to succeed on the show is a stellar voice – other factors are irrelevant. It gives all a fair go.
For Chinese audiences The Voice of China most likely reminds them of another spectacular show that ran roughly seven years ago. Super Girl, which gained an international following, featured SMS voting, a first for a Chinese TV show. On the evening of August 26, 2005, the top three contestants in the final round of Super Girl received a total of over nine million SMS votes. The show produced a number of previously unknown singers who went on to dominate the domestic pop charts.
While The Voice of China arguably improves upon Super Girl in many respects, both shows owe their success to importing new, exciting forms of entertainment. Super Girl was, in essence, a copy of American Idol. The Voice of China, on the other hand, integrates local culture with the original Dutch version.
The Voice of China represents a trend prevalent in Chinese Television this year – copyright import. Four out of 10 music programs aired last summer were imported.
“There are only two kinds of TV programs on air at the moment: chair-swiveling ones and lights-going-out ones, “ quipped Meng Fei, a host on Jiangsu TV. Chair-swiveling refers to The Voice of China, while lights-going-out alludes to his own program, You Are the One. The blind dating show is based on the British Take Me Out, and has maintained a four percent audience rating for several years now.
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