Partly inspired by the many spinoffs of the UK show Pop Idol, the competition was open to any male contestant regardless of his origin, appearance, or how he sings. The restricted audition sessions drew contestants over the age of 18.^[1] Many applicants travelled long distances to take part in the competition hoping to become the next pop star in China and elsewhere.

Following the selection of contestants in the six regions, the competition began with the preliminary rounds. Preliminaries were held in each of the six locations where auditions were located. Television viewers were able to watch each of the preliminaries and vote for their favorite singers. Voting was conducted by telephone and text messaging.

The regional preliminaries are followed by a weekly broadcast knockout competition held in Changsha, Hunan province. Viewers call in to vote for their favourite singers, and the weakest two—as voted by the judges and the audience's weekly SMS— face-off subsequently in a PK, short for Player Kill. The term is derived from kill-or-be-killed multiplayer online games.^[2] The singer with the fewest votes is then eliminated. Unlike Pop Idol, the last event is contested between the final three, rather than the final two contestants.

Unlike American Idol, judges for the competition were selected from different backgrounds in society. A few dozen "audience judges" were selected in addition to several professional judges.

Democratic expression edit

One of the main factors contributing to the show's popularity was that viewers are able to participate in the judging process by sending text messages with their mobile phones to vote for their favorite contestants. This was, according to Jim Yardley of International Herald Tribune, considered as one of the largest "democratic" voting exercises in mainland China.^[3]

Reaction edit

The contest selected many stars like Chen Chusheng, Jason Zhang, Chen Xiang, Vision Wei, Hua Chenyu and so on. It gives the young boys, who love music, the way to achieve dreams. But it also caused some criticism. Some people think it contributes to the atmosphere of daydream of becoming stars. Many young people change their attention from study to music and singing, without considering whether they have this gift. In sum, it once became a fashion.

The first season of Super Boy aired from May 25 to July 20, 2007. Although the winners of the competition were not promised recording contracts, the top three winners signed such deals.

Qualifications edit

Final contest edit

  Champion

  Challenges succeed to switch rank

  Eliminated

Final Contestants edit

• Chen Chusheng (陈楚生) - Champion
• Su Xing (苏醒) - 2nd place
• Vision Wei (魏晨) - 3rd place
• Jason Zhang (张杰) - 4th place
• Ji Jie (吉杰) - 5th place
• Yu Haoming (俞灏明) - 6th place
• Wang Yuexin (王栎鑫) - 7th place
• Amguulan (阿穆隆) - 8th place
• Zhang Yuan (张远) - 9th place
• Wang Zhenglian (王铮亮) - 10th place
• Yao Zhen (姚政) - 11th place
• Guo Biao (郭彪) - 12 place
• Lu Hu (陆虎) - 13th place

  Champion

  Weekly cover boy

  Eliminated

  Special contestants

Final contestants edit

• 06. Well Li Wei (李炜) - Fuzhou Area - 1st place - Champion
• 09. Liu Xin (刘心) - Changsha Area - 2nd place
• 02. Philip [Wuyi] (武艺) - Changsha Area - 3rd place
• 11. Jaki Tan Jiexi (谭杰希) - Guangzhou Area - 4th place
• 12. Chen Xiang (陈翔) - Chengdu Area - 5th place
• 04. Li Hangliang (李行亮) - Guangzhou Area - 6th place
• 03. King Wang Ye (王野) - Shenyang Area - 7th place
• 13. 8090 - Kuai Le Tian Tuan - 8th place
• 10. Zhang Jianbo (张建波) - Hefei Area - 8th place
• 07. Wu Junyu (吴俊余) - Chengdu Area - 9th place
• 05. Umut 玉米提·帕日哈提 - Changsha Area - 10th place
• 01. Delay - Chengdu Area - 11th place
• 08. Zhao Fan (赵帆) - Chengdu Area - 12 place

• Hunan Satellite Television
• Idol series
• The Voice of China

• Hunan TV 2007 Super Boy official site
• Hunan TV 2010 Super Boy official site