China's Super Girl Li Yuchun

Though all television stations in China are officially state-owned, the Changsha-based Hunan Satellite Television (the equivalent of a Chicago-based regional network),
which produced Super Girl, has undertaken a much more consumer-based and profit-oriented attitude toward programming than its big brother network, China Central Television (CCTV).

Known for producing popular favorites such as the reality show Who's the Hero? that features people performing bizarre stunts, Hunan TV has approached programming with
a decidedly commercial angle, attempting to compete with international players such as MTV and Nickelodeon.

It is not surprising that a competition such as Super Girl arose from this regional upstart, but it is surprising that not one but two of the finalists (Li and runner-up Zhou Bichang) bucked thousands of years of traditional gender norms with the enthusiastic support of millions of teenage girls, who voted for their favorites by text message.

More than 120,000 women from five provinces in China competed in Super Girl, each vying for a shot at a record deal and pop stardom. Not surprisingly, official state reaction to the program, in which the girls belt out pop hits from around the world
(as well as a few select nationalistic anthems), has been one of condemnation.

The official statement from CCTV noted disparagingly that the show was “vulgar and manipulative,” and one of the most common controversies to emerge from the show
has been the fact that the winner, Li Yuchun, was not the best singer and boasted a particularly un-feminine appearance.

During her audition, Li dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, lacking makeup, and sang the song “In My Heart There's Only You, Never Her,” a tune originally sung by Taiwan 's Liu Wenzhen, a man. During the course of the competition, Li continued to sing songs written for male performers, dressed in male clothing, and exuded a masculine charisma on stage that clearly struck a chord with the show's audience of teenage girls.

One fan passed out fliers to encourage other viewers to vote for Li complete with a starstruck—and lovestruck—message, describing Li as a “no frills, natural girl who has control of the stage, and is not easily disturbed. She has no long skirts or long hair, and will challenge the traditional female idea. She is the Super Girl in my heart.”

Indeed, Li's fans are so ardent they have invented a name for themselves—yumi, a word incorporating part of Li Yuchun's name that in turn forms the word for “corn.”

During the finals, Li won by receiving 3.52 million text message votes, beating out runner-up Zhou Bichang, 20, who received 3.2 million votes. Interestingly, Zhou Bichang also sports a nontraditional feminine appearance, though the press has focused the vast majority of their attention on Li, who went on to grace the cover of Time Asia last October as one of 25 Asia's Heroes of 2005.

Given the fact that nearly one-third of the country watched the finale of Super Girl, in which not one but two of the finalists obviously challenged traditional gender norms, it seems that China may be on the verge of beginning a long-needed dialogue about womanhood. It remains to be seen, however, whether Li continues to maintain her genderqueer appearance. She has recently been cast opposite Taiwan actor Chang Chen in a very feminine role—complete with long hair and girlish clothes.

Some Chinese scholars believe that the popularity of Super Girl and Li's victory represent a deep-seated desire on the part of the Chinese people to have a voice in their political future, and to unseat the Communist Party's control of the media.

But Li Yuchun's victory may also be a reflection of the growing openness about homosexuality in China and, more significantly, a sign of the changing definition of what constitutes a woman. Her supporters are clearly questioning many of the traditional values and roles assigned to Chinese women—a step that is key to developing not only an open lesbian community but a feminist one.