Super Boy (TV series)
Super Boy or Happy Boy (simplified Chinese: 快乐男声; traditional Chinese: 快樂男聲; pinyin: Kuàilè Nánshēng; literally "Happy Boys") was a Chinese singing contest for male contestants. It was organized by Hunan Satellite Television in 2007, as a spin-off of its popular Super Girl series. It's a talent show which aims at uncovering talented tomorrow new male stars.

Outline
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. 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. 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
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.

Reaction
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.

Season summary
2007 season
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
Final contest
Champion
  Challenges succeed to switch rank
  Eliminated

Final Contestants
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

2010 season
Champion
  Weekly cover boy
  Eliminated
  Special contestants

Final contestants
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

See also
Hunan Satellite Television
Idol series
The Voice of China

References
External links
Hunan TV 2007 Super Boy official site
Hunan TV 2010 Super Boy official site