''Sing! China'' (; formerly ) is a Chinese singing
competition television series broadcast on
Zhejiang Television
Zhejiang Television (ZJTV, ) is a satellite
A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather for ...
. It is produced by
Star (CM) Holdings Ltd.
It premiered during the summer on 15 July 2016. It is a re-branded version of ''
The Voice of China
''The Voice of China'' () is a Chinese reality television singing competition broadcast on Zhejiang Television. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', the concept of the series is to find new singing talent (solo or duets) contested by as ...
'', a show based on the original ''
The Voice of Holland
''The Voice of Holland'', also known by its acronym ''TVOH'', is a Dutch singing reality competition television series that became a global TV format franchise, created by media tycoon John de Mol Jr. and musician Roel van Velzen in the Net ...
''. It has aired seven seasons and aims to find new singing talent (solo or duets, professional and amateur) contested by aspiring singers, aged 18 or older (16 or older in seasons one and two), drawn from public auditions.
The winner is determined by live audience voting by
SMS text. They receive a
record deal
A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...
with various labels for winning the competition. Winners of the past seven seasons have been: Jiang Dunhao (蒋敦豪), Tashi Phuntsok (扎西平措), Tenzin Nyima (旦增尼玛), Xing Hanming (邢晗铭), Shan Yichun (单依纯), Wu Keyue (伍珂玥), and Sumi Liang (梁玉莹).
The series employs a panel of four coaches who critique the artists' performances and guide their teams of selected artists through the remainder of the season. They also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning coach. The original panel featured
Jay Chou
Jay Chou Chieh-lun ( zh, s=周杰伦, t=周杰倫, first=t, p=Zhōu Jiélún; born 18 January 1979) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actor, director, and businessman. Regarded as one of the most influential artists in the Chinese-speaking worl ...
,
Na Ying
Na Ying (born 27 November 1967) is a Chinese singer. Rising to fame in the late 1980s, Na signed with Linfair Records in 1993, becoming one of the first singers from mainland China to join a Taiwanese label and subsequently gaining popularity ac ...
,
Wang Feng, and
Harlem Yu
Harlem Yu (; born 28 July 1961) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, television host and businessman. He has been hosting television shows in Taiwan since 1994 and in China since 2011, and served as a coach for three seasons of '' The Voice of Chi ...
. Other coaches from previous seasons include
Eason Chan
Eason Chan Yick-shun ( zh, s=陈奕迅, t=陳奕迅, first=t, p=Chén Yìxùn; born 27 July 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He is one of the most popular and influential singers in both Cantopop and Mandopop. Besides holding the record ...
,
Liu Huan
Liu Huan (born August 26, 1963) is a Chinese singer and songwriter. He is one of China's modern era pioneers in pop music. He combines his music career with teaching the history of Western music at the Beijing University of International Busin ...
,
Nicholas Tse
Nicholas Tse Ting-fung (born 29 August 1980) is a Hong Kong actor, singer, songwriter, martial artist, entrepreneur and TV chef.EEGmusic.EEGmusic." ''Nicolas Tse profile.'' Retrieved on 22 April 2008. Tse debuted as a singer in 1996 before shif ...
,
Li Jian,
Wang Leehom
Wang Leehom ( zh, c=王力宏, poj=Ông Le̍k-hông; born May 17, 1976), sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and film director. His music is known for fusing hip-hop and R&B, with traditional ...
,
Li Ronghao
Li Ronghao (; born July 11, 1985) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and actor. Initially a music producer, he achieved breakout success as a singer with his debut album ''Model'' (2013), for which he won the Golden Melody Award for Best New Sing ...
,
Chris Li,
Hacken Lee
Hacken Lee (), is a Hong Kong singer, television host and actor, active since the 1980s. In 2013, Lee's song "House of Cards" swept multiple awards in many Hong Kong award ceremonies, including "World's Best Song" and "Broadcasting Index" in Metr ...
and
Fish Leong
Fish Leong Ching Yu (, born Leong Chui Peng on 16 June 1978) is a Malaysian singer and songwriter. Having sold more than 20 million records to date, she has achieved popularity and success in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and M ...
.
The latest season eight began airing on 28 July 2023 with
Wakin Chau
Wakin Chau (; born 22 December 1960), better known by his stage name Emil Chau during the 1980s and 1990s, is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese people, Taiwanese singer and actor, popular throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and parts of Sou ...
,
Joker Xue
Joker Xue (, born July 17, 1983) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and record producer, formerly known as Jacky Xue. One of the most-streamed and most popular Mandopop artists, he is known for his emotional vocal delivery with works that span vario ...
,
Wilber Pan
Wilber Pan (born 6 August 1980), also known as Will Pan, is a Taiwanese-American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, and entrepreneur. He started his career as a host of Channel V programs. In 2011, Pan was awarded Golden Bell Award for Best A ...
, and
Henry Lau
Henry Lau (; ; born October 11, 1989), known mononymously as Henry, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer based in South Korea and China. He debuted in 2008 as a member of Super Junior-M and launched his ...
joining as new coaches, but it was put on hold on 25 August 2023 pending an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of late singer
Coco Lee
CoCo Lee ( zh, c=李玟; 17 January 1975 – 5 July 2023) was a Chinese-American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is one of the best-selling artists in Asia and widely regarded as a significant figure and a diva. Her career began in 1993 i ...
, who was one of the coaches on ''Sing! China'' in 2022, and other issues raised by the
netizen
The term ''netizen'' is a portmanteau of the English words ''internet'' and ''citizen'', as in a "citizen of the net" or "net citizen". It describes a person actively involved in online communities or the Internet in general. s and viewers of the program.
Format
The series consists of three main phases: a blind audition, a battle phase, and live performance shows. The four judges/coaches choose teams of contestants through a blind audition process. Each judge has the length of the auditioner's performance to decide if he or she wants that singer on his or her team. They can do it by pressing their button and their chairs will face the artist, just like in The Voice. If only one coach want the same singer, that singer will be defaulted to his/her team. If two or more coaches want the same singer (as happens frequently), the singer has the final choice of coach.
In Season 8, for the first time in the history of the show, artists have two options to choose from before they go on stage: Blind Audition and Open Selection. If they choose the former, the show will proceed by the normal rules. If they chose the latter, the coaches will turn around and judge the artists as they perform. In addition, if a coach presses the red button during the Open Selection, it will turn the coach's chair back and the singer isn't allowed to pick that coach. At the end of the performance, if the coach didn't press the button, it means that the students are invited to join that team.
Since 2018, artists that are not selected by any of the coaches leave the stage directly after their song and do not talk with the coaches. The chairs do not turn and hence the coaches do not see any artists that are not picked. Exceptions include if a coach wants to see the unchosen artist after their performance by request. However, this has been reversed in Season 8.
Each team of singers is mentored and developed by its respective coach. In the second stage, originally called the battle phase, coaches have two of their team members battle against each other directly by singing the same song together, with the coach choosing which team member to advance from each of the individual "battles". However, from Season 5 onwards, the second stage consists of a cross battle phase, which is similar to the regular battle phase, except for the fact that two artists who are not from the same team battle against each other. Winning artists score a point for their team. The losing artists do not earn any points but are not immediately eliminated. At the end of the cross battle rounds, whichever team that achieved a lower score will have to eliminate one artist from their team as a penalty. Other artists advance to the cross knockout rounds. Cross Knockout rounds are similar to the cross battle rounds except that losing artists are immediately eliminated. Winning artists move on to the first live rounds. Within that first live round, the surviving four acts from each team again compete head-to-head, with public votes determining the best of four acts from each team that will advance to the final eight, while the coach chooses which of the remaining three acts comprises the other performer remaining on the team.
In the final phase, the remaining contestants compete against each other in live broadcasts. The audience and the coaches have equal say in deciding who moves on to the final 4 phase. With one contestant remaining for each coach, the four contestants will compete against each other in the final round with the outcome decided solely by public vote.
Initially, there were no steals/saves in the entire competition. However, since
season 5
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
, any artist eliminated during the sing-offs by their coach can be stolen/saved by other coaches.
Controversies
Alleged mistreatment
In September 2022, a video went viral showing
Coco Lee
CoCo Lee ( zh, c=李玟; 17 January 1975 – 5 July 2023) was a Chinese-American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is one of the best-selling artists in Asia and widely regarded as a significant figure and a diva. Her career began in 1993 i ...
, one of the mentors on season 7, arguing with the show's director about which contestants should have advanced. Some netizens alleged that the show was known to be shady, while others said the production team's desire was to speed up filming due to ongoing delays.
On August 17, 2023, after Lee's suicide in July, a nine-minute audio clip from Lee described her mistreatment by the production team during the show's final episode in October 2022. According to the clip, she was subjected to a sudden placement change during a performance with Wang Zepeng, a contestant on her team. Wang, who was supposed to accompany Lee on stage to assist her due to her fragile condition from battling illnesses, had his back turned to her, causing Lee to stand alone in seven-inch heels and fall during their duet. She described this experience as "humiliating," especially since her health issues had been largely concealed from the public.
Wang later supported Lee's claims by sharing a screen capture of their private text messages from that time, when Lee accused the director of intentionally undermining her. Other videos showed a staff member attempting to remove Lee from the stage as she repeatedly said, "Don't touch me", and her finally leaving the venue under assistance, struggling to walk.
The clip also mentioned that the production team threatened not to give contestant Feige a chance to return to the competition unless Lee were to write a
Weibo
Weibo (), or Sina Weibo (), is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily ac ...
post. She complied to ensure Feige had an opportunity to showcase his talent. This controversy led to a significant debate among netizens, with calls to boycott the show's sponsors.
By August 25, 2023, after the audio clip went viral, the stock price of
Star China Media
Star China Media (), also known as Star (CM) Holdings, is a PRC, Chinese media company owned by China Media Capital. The company operates television channels Xing Kong and Channel V, Channel V Mainland China, and maintains Fortune Star film lib ...
, the parent company of "Sing! China," plummeted by more than 50 percent, resulting in a loss of approximately $3 billion in value.
Insiders' claims
Li Jiajie, one of the contestants in
season 8 (2023), said that "the price of 500,000
yuan per seat, in his opinion, is certainly not a baseless rumor,” implying that the top ten places in the finals are all available for purchase. His posts were mysteriously removed, and Li later said that his allegations were made without basis.
People were surprised by the posts’ removal and his “apology”, leaving comments to ask if he was threatened.
Zhang Weiqi, a contestant from
season 1 of the Voice of China (2012), denied the rumor of turning a chair for 500,000 yuan, but revealed that the participants needed to sign a contract for 9 years to continue performing on the show in the finals. He also claimed that the participants who introduced themselves as truck drivers, farmers, nail salon owners, etc. were all fake, but for the sake of effects in the show.
Wilber Pan’s chair
On the 4th episode of season 8, during a performance of the girl group Yomodo Band, Wilber Pan's chair swivelled away from the stage without him pushing the button, thus disapproving the contestant's performance. However, as his hands were observed to be resting on his lap, and with his mouth appeared to have said the word “what”, many netizens believed that he did not push the button to opt for disqualifying the contestant from proceeding to the next round.
Suspension
On 25 August 2023, Zhejiang Satellite TV announced that the program had been frozen from broadcasting briefly pending an investigation over the alleged mistreatment of Coco Lee and other issues raised by netizens and viewers.
It was reported that the suspension of the show was also partly due to current season 8's coaches,
Wakin Chau
Wakin Chau (; born 22 December 1960), better known by his stage name Emil Chau during the 1980s and 1990s, is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese people, Taiwanese singer and actor, popular throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and parts of Sou ...
and
Joker Xue
Joker Xue (, born July 17, 1983) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and record producer, formerly known as Jacky Xue. One of the most-streamed and most popular Mandopop artists, he is known for his emotional vocal delivery with works that span vario ...
, having insisted on pulling out of the show after the incident with half of the season yet to be produced and filmed. Chau's team denied the rumor that Wakin Chau had pulled out from the show.
Coaches and hosts
Coaches
;Notes
# In Season 6,
Momo Wu,
Jike Junyi,
Zhang Bichen
Zhang Bichen (; born September 10, 1989), also known as Diamond Zhang, is a Chinese singer. She was a member of the South Korean girl group Sunny Days (group), Sunny Days. In 2014, she won the Chinese singing contest ''The Voice of China (seaso ...
and
Huang Xiaoyun took responsibility as advisors to their respective coaches.
# In Season 7,
Huang Xiaoyun and
Curley G
Xilinnayi Gao (; Uyghur: شىرىن اي گائو ''Shirinay Gaw''; born July 31, 1998), professionally known by her stage name Curley G or Curley Gao, is a Chinese singer-songwriter. She first gained attention in 2017 on the Chinese singing com ...
took responsibility as "Comeback Stage" coaches.
; Legend
: Featured as a full-time coach.
: Featured as a part-time coach.
: Featured as a full-time assistant coach.
Hosts
; Legend
: Featured as a full time host.
: Featured as a backstage host.
: Featured as a part time host.
Dream coaches (as Coaches' advisors)
Singing-accompanying guests
Coaches' teams
: Winner
: Runner-up
: Third Place
: Fourth Place
: Fifth place
: Sixth place
These are the contestants of each team who survived in the cross-battles (seasons 1–3), cross-knockouts (seasons 4–6), and knockouts (season 7), as well as their placements until the finale. Stolen artists are ''italicized''.
Series overview
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sing! China
2016 Chinese television series debuts
Chinese reality television series
Chinese music television series
Chinese-language television shows
Zhejiang Television original programming