Like many Chinese girls her age, Qi Ji enjoys singing and dancing and dreams of becoming a star, but rather than trying to make a start in vast and crowded China, she is pinning her hopes on Taiwan.
The 18-year-old is the first of many Chinese contestants expected to enter a Taiwanese reality show aimed at creating a girl band that producers hope can rival supergroups such as Japan’s AKB48 or South Korea’s Girls’ Generation.
With such televised contests now a major part of the global music industry, in Asia they are spurring a migration of talent between countries as performers and producers look to crack domestic, regional and global markets. For Qi, who grew up in northeastern China and attended a performing arts school in Beijing, this could offer a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a fast track to stardom in China’s market of 1.3 billion people — and perhaps beyond.
Photo: Mandy Cheng, AFP
“Many young Chinese people like me dream of becoming a star,” Qi said prior to a recording session for Asian Idol Group Competition (亞洲天團爭霸戰), which aired in the middle of last month. “I hope to start in Taiwan and eventually have a career both here and in China.”
Growing numbers of young Chinese performers are coming to Taiwan in search of a big break, reversing a trend that saw famous Taiwanese performers such as A-mei (張惠妹) and Jay Chou (周杰倫) focus on China. The show’s producer, Lee Fang-ju, the mastermind behind reality shows both in his native Taiwan and in China, is holding auditions in several major Chinese cities this summer to select more contestants to come to Taipei.
“Taiwan has a special allure as many young Chinese idolize Taiwanese singers. They think that making a mark here could turn them into pop divas such as Taiwan’s Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) and Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒),” Lee said. “We hope to combine Taiwan and China’s strength to create a pop idol group so that our idols won’t be replaced by the Japanese or South Koreans.”
The most successful case so far is arguably Hu Xia (胡夏), a 22-year-old from Guangxi Province, China, who was signed by Sony Music Taiwan after winning the One Million Star singing contest in 2010. His latest record Flame of Love hit No. 1 on Taiwan’s G-Music chart in March.
“Winning a title in Taiwan is a big boost for a young Chinese performer since it has a leading role in Mandarin pop music,” said Hsieh Tsung-han, a music producer and lecturer at China University of Technology in Taipei.
A-List Entertainment, which is based in Taipei and offers courses for those aspiring to become singers, models and show hosts, is, meanwhile, getting plenty of interest from China.
Last year, it recruited about 100 Chinese nationals aged between 14 and 35 from as far as Mongolia to take performing lessons in Taiwan for an eight-day program at a cost of 15,000 Chinese yuan (US$2,380).
“Many Chinese youth follow Taiwan’s TV programs closely and they are attracted by Taiwan’s colorful, diverse and free entertainment scene,” A-List publicity officer Stella Teng said. “China is huge and so you are less likely to get discovered.”
While many Chinese acts look to get noticed in smaller markets first, one English-speaking Asian act has looked to use their ethnicity to do the reverse and crack the US — despite a history of such attempts falling flat.
“Blush” is made up of five women from the Philippines, India, China, Japan and South Korea who beat hundreds of other pop star wannabes during a talent search across Asia in 2010 called Project Lotus. Based in both Hong Kong and the US, Blush have opened for Justin Bieber on the Hong Kong leg of his tour last year, recorded with US hip hop star Snoop Dogg and are supported by an A-list of Los Angeles-based producers who have worked with the likes of Lady Gaga and Beyonce.
“Asian singers have not crossed over, although many attempts have been made,” Project Lotus producer and Blush manager Jon Niermann said in Los Angeles. “What we’ve tried to do is take artists from the region, but develop them in a very Western style with Western producers, Western songs and a Western way of sound, and that’s what is helping give Blush the recognition and some initial success.”
In February, the band’s single Dance On hit No. 1 on the Billboard dance club chart, above Rihanna and Kelly Clarkson. The band’s debut EP The Undivided was released last month.
“We’re in it for the long run and we are serious about our music,” said Blush’s Victoria Chan (陳皓恩), who is the band’s Chinese member. “We have been waiting for this for a long time.”
“You lead with the music and the rest of it becomes a public relations angle as to who this group is to set them apart, which is important,” Niermann said. “But it ultimately comes down to talent.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Global semiconductor stocks advanced yesterday, as comments by Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) at Davos, Switzerland, helped reinforce investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI). Samsung Electronics Co gained as much as 5 percent to an all-time high, helping drive South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI above 5,000 for the first time. That came after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose more than 3 percent to a fresh record on Wednesday, with a boost from Nvidia. The gains came amid broad risk-on trade after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of tariffs on some European nations over backing for Greenland. Huang further
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
HSBC Bank Taiwan Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) and the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance cooperation on the suspicious transaction analysis mechanism. This landmark agreement makes HSBC the first foreign bank in Taiwan to establish such a partnership with the High Prosecutors Office, underscoring its commitment to active anti-fraud initiatives, financial inclusion, and the “Treating Customers Fairly” principle. Through this deep public-private collaboration, both parties aim to co-create a secure financial ecosystem via early warning detection and precise fraud prevention technologies. At the signing ceremony, HSBC Taiwan CEO and head of banking Adam Chen (陳志堅)
RSS