Friday, November 23, 2018 CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION

2 PAGE TWO Talent: ‘We just keep practicing again and again’

From page 1 ber of the group Rocket Girls 101. Yu, who was born in Chang­ As one of 11 young women chun, Jilin province, arrived in selected from the reality show Beijing about three weeks ago Produce 101, released on Ten­ to train with two other young cent’s video platform this women, 21­year­old Meng summer, Duan has more than Huan and 20­year­old Yu Ziyu, 3 million followers on her both students at Zhengzhou Sina Weibo account. University in Henan province Idol Producer, a male coun­ who are majoring in Chinese terpart of Produce 101 folk dance. launched by the online Unlike Meng and Yu Ziyu, streaming service iQiyi in Yu Yangzi does not have a pro­ January, also led to the birth fessional dance training back­ of the nine­member boy ground, and has started to group Nine Percent. The learn from scratch. show highlighted the inten­ “The most challenging and sive training the competi­ painful class involves stretch­ tors went through and their ing my arms and legs. I cried individual talent. several times because the Fans interact with their pain is really hard to bear,” idols and vote for them via she said. social media. The three women are On Nov 12, Nine Percent trainees with I.E.One Enter­ gave a live performance at M tainment, an agency that Space, a popular venue in trains young Chinese dream­ Beijing, to about 500 scream­ ing of entering the country’s ing fans. The show was also highly competitive pop streamed live through online industry. platforms by Tencent Music Yu Yangzi applied for an Entertainment Group, net­ audition with the company ting more than 15 million because she is a big fan of the views. six­member boy group TimeZ, Qi Qi, a 20­year­old woman who were signed by Si Jie, the from Beijing, who went to company’s founder and own­ Nine Percent fans’ meetings er. and other public events, said: An increasing number of “I became a big fan of theirs Chinese entertainment com­ Jia Hanyu (airborne) is one of the six members of the Chinese group Boy Story. They have ambitions to make it big in the pop industry. ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY after I watched the show. panies and agencies are They worked so hard and they recruiting youngsters want­ are so talented. Their songs ing to become pop idols. This deliver positive messages of is due to the influence of the individuality, ambition and multi­billion­dollar K­pop hope. Their performances industry in South Korea, onstage are so cool. which has global appeal. They know what “It’s like witnessing our These young potential mutual dream coming true idols, known as lianxisheng they want and together, which make the fans (trainees) in Chinese, live in feel connected.” dormitories and train inten­ they work hard sively together, often start­ Strict training ing when they are teenagers. to achieve Zhang Pengfei, general However, despite all the their goals.” manager of Future Star Crea­ efforts they put in, there is tor Culture Media, a Beijing no guarantee that they will Si Jie, founder of I.E.One agency that also trains young make it to the big time, Entertainment talent, said: “It’s true that either as soloists or as these reality shows, which groups. give birth to young idols, are “I have loved singing and at the Hong Kong Coliseum attracting more and more dancing since childhood and I in October last year, which young Chinese to become wanted to give this a try,” said was very exciting. We were lianxisheng. This brings hope Yu Yangzi, adding that her close to the audience and we to those who want to become mother was the only one in her felt proud because we didn’t stars. family who supported her goal make any mistakes onstage.” “For the Chinese market, of becoming a singer­dancer. The youngsters are study­ these young idols have to be “But since I really want to do ing at an art school in Beijing, versatile. Their fans want it, they’ve all agreed.” and after lessons they soon them to sing, dance and act. find themselves back in a So they have to work hard.” Five singles released classroom for singing and Zhang’s company has Unlike the three women dancing training. This will recruited 20 trainees, selected with I.E.One Entertainment, continue if they are signed by from more than 1,000 candi­ who are just starting their a major label. dates since March. The train­ training, the six boys in the Si launched I.E.One Enter­ ees, who are 17 to 22 years old, pop group Boy Story have tainment in August to focus From left: Lai Meiyun, Yang Chaoyue and Meng Meiqi comprise the group Rocket Girls 101. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY receive strict training based already built a fan base, not solely on discovering, training on their talent. only in China but globally. and managing young Chinese Besides training for 12 to 14 Produced by the K­pop idols. “Despite the intensive hours every day, they also label JYP Entertainment, its training and fierce competi­ attend a psychological coun­ China subsidiary NCC Enter­ tion, more and more young seling program every two tainment, and Tencent Music Chinese are becoming lian­ weeks. Entertainment, the Boy Story xisheng,” he said. “Confidence is important lineup is Jia Hanyu, 14; Li It has long been Si’s ambi­ for them because years of Zihao, 14; He Xinlong, 13; Yu tion to produce Chinese pop training can be boring. We Zeyu, 13; Gou Mingrui, 12; idols who go on to find world­ want them to have a healthy and Ren Shuyang, 11. wide fame. mindset about fame,” Zhang After two years of training He said that apart from the said. in South Korea, they have three young women, the com­ Guo Xinbo, vice­president released five singles since last pany trains three men of simi­ of JC Universe Entertain­ year. One of their songs, lar age who will hopefully ment, a Beijing company that Enough, which is hip­hop perform as a group. manages young pop idols, based, has received nearly 3 “Some of the lianxisheng said companies on the Chi­ million views on YouTube won’t make it and some of Yu Zeyu, 13, is a member of Boy Story. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY nese mainland hire teachers since being released in Sep­ them quit because the train­ from Hong Kong, South tember. ing is too harsh,” Si said. Korea and the United States When they showed up at a “Only those who work hard to train the youngsters. It house at a compound on the and have real talent will stay often takes at least two years outskirts of Beijing recently, and get the chance to become before a trainee is ready to where they have lived and idols.” perform in public. trained since September, the The 40­year­old Beijing Guo Ying, better known by six displayed their dancing native formed the idea to her stage name Yamy, who is and singing skills and even launch Chinese pop groups in also one of the members of performed somersaults. 1996 after he became interest­ Rocket Girls 101, is one of “It’s really frustrating ed in K­pop. those managed by JC Universe when we cannot do the dance “ When I was 20, I had a Entertainment. moves in unison, so we just girlfriend from South Korea. Guo Xinbo said the young keep practicing again and We often hung out around idols rely on the “fan econo­ again,” said Jia, the group’s Beijing’s Wudaokou area, my”, which refers to the value leader. which has lots of universities and revenue generated by the He was born and grew up and foreign students,” Si said. interaction between fans and in Zhumadian, Henan prov­ “I noticed that those students Three members of Boy Story read at a house on the outskirts of Yu Ziyu (left), 20, and Meng Huan, 21, show their agility at a idols. ince, and stood out among listened to K­pop and dressed Beijing, where they live, study and train. ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY training session. ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY “We want to recruit young hundreds of his peers when like K­pop stars, and this people who not only dance, the companies launched inspired me. Chinese young sing and act but also have auditions in his hometown. people also love music. Why H.O.T and Baby V.O.X. who was studying at the He said: “The need for and achieve their goals. It’s just their own skills, such as “I like watching pop groups not have our own pop A turning point for the Chi­ Sichuan Conservatory of creation of pop groups has like teenagers who train to songwriting. The ability to perform because it’s really groups?” nese pop industry came in Music in Chengdu, to nation­ never stopped in China. Com­ become athletes. They start write and produce songs on cool to dance like that. I want From 1998 to 2008, Si 2005 when some young musi­ al fame. pared with young people who from a young age, have their their own would be a great to dance like them,” added worked in Beijing with one of cians rose to become big stars In 2007, Si joined E.E Media, wanted to become pop stars own athletics idols and work advantage to confront criti­ Jia, a hip­hop music fan and South Korea’s largest enter­ on the reality TV singing com­ a big name in China’s enter­ about 15 years ago, the young­ hard to win.” cism about pop idols from winner of national street tainment management agen­ petition Super Girl aired by tainment industry — which er generation is taking more One of the biggest stars in large entertainment agen­ dance competitions. cies, S.M. Entertainment, and Hunan Satellite TV. produced the Super Girl com­ initiative. Si’s company is Duan Aojuan, cies. These multi­talented Li, who comes from Tian­ became involved in bringing Audiences voted for their petition — and launched a Chi­ “They know what they a 17­year­old singer from Sich­ artists can make themselves jin, said: “We made our debut K­pop stars to China, such as idols, propelling Li Yuchun, nese male group, Top Combine. want and they work hard to uan province, who is a mem­ unique.”