In Chinese TV talent show, older women stars compete to be pop idols, with Aaron Kwok among judges and Huang Xiaoming presenting

Modelled on a 2016 South Korean contest, the show from Mango TV and Hunan TV bucks the trend of reality shows that put teenage unknowns in the spotlight

Once Chinese internet users got over the shock of women in their 50s vying for pop idol status, some welcomed their participation

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A reality TV show in China will pit 30 women against each other as they vie for a place in a pop group. The hook – they’re already celebrities, including actress Ning Jing (above), and they’re all over the age of 30. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 9:15am, 9 May 2020Updated: 8:00pm, 10 May 2020

Show business can be notoriously unforgiving in its treatment of female stars of a certain age.

Paparazzi train their camera lenses on the wrinkles and crow’s feet on their once-unlined faces; good roles become scarce as they grow older, with many missing out on parts in major films and TV series; and once their names disappear from the screen or music charts, they are written off as has-beens.

So the latest co-production between Mango TV and Hunan Television, a regional broadcaster in China, is a surprise in an industry that prizes youth and beauty above everything else.

Announced last week, the reality show – whose title Chengfengpolang De Jiejie, roughly translates as “sisters riding the winds and breaking the waves” – will feature 30 Chinese female stars who are – gasp – over 30, vying for a spot in a five-member band. The programme will air in June.

The show’s title roughly translates as “sisters riding the winds and breaking the waves”.

If you think this is some C-list production, it isn’t – some of the contestants are established and familiar names in Chinese entertainment. They include Taiwanese singer Annie Yi Neng-jing (52 years old), Chinese actress Ning Jing (48), and Hong Kong actresses Christy Chung Lai-tai (50) and Adia Chan Chung-ling (50), who shot to fame playing the legendary Jiangsu songstress Zhou Xuan in the 1990s in Song Bird, a drama produced by Hong Kong-based broadcaster TVB.