End of the road for young idols

ALL focus was on seven boys as they debuted, singing, rapping and dancing their way to become future stars.

Aged between seven and 11, they were members of a new Mando-pop group called Tianfu Shaonian Tuan (Tianfu teens group) or the Panda Boys in English.

The boys group was shortlisted from over 300 children in a talent contest organised by Asia Starry Sky Entertainment (ASE) early this year.

They made a grand debut before a huge audience on Aug 20 in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan and performed their single “Go Ahead”.

They not only sang but showcased their other talents such as playing the drums, bassoon and saxophone as well as painting.

Their agency declared the group to be the youngest cross-culture band.

But after just four days, the Panda Boys is no more. It became the shortest lifespan group in the Chinese music industry.

ASE and the boys’ parents came under heavy criticism on social media, with netizens accusing them of using children as money-making tools.

The public felt that the boys were too young to be thrown into an industry, which they deemed “unhealthy and complicated”.

Although child artistes have been around as long as the entertainment business exists, many think it is time to tighten the practice especially when the Panda Boys’ debut. Their criticism came after a series of scandals and immoral conducts of industry players including rape cases recently.

“Shouldn’t these boys be enjoying their childhood and concentrating on their studies at such an age?” asked one of the social media users.

“This is child labour,” said another person.

“Ridiculous! They are too small to make decisions on their future, they merely listen to the adults,” a netizen cited.

Following the uproar, ASE changed the group’s Chinese name to Xiongmao Shaoer Yishu Tuan (Panda performing arts group) to emphasise that the boys were not idols, but children who love singing and dancing.

The company explained that it was merely grooming talent and had never treated children as money-making tools.

It said education remained a priority of the children, who are also healthy and with good moral conduct.

“This is not a commercial group and be assured that the boys’ studies will not be affected,” it claimed.

But the clarification did not put a stop to continuous public criticism, prompting the company to disband the group on Aug 24.

On Sina Weibo, Chinese Twitter-like social media platform, the group’s as well as its members’ individual pages have all been shutdown.

An industry insider said the huge success of another group, TFBoys, sent a message to those who wished to take advantage of young idols to make money.

“It sounds illogical to me that the company (ASE) claimed it did not want to make money off the boys, the act of choosing children has shown the agency is aiming at the young idol market,” he told the Global Times.

TFBoys – whose members consist of Jackson Yee, Karry Wang and Roy Wang – is the most popular boys group in China since their debut in 2013 when they were just 13 and 14.

The trio, who were selected via several talent competitions, signed up with an entertainment company as trainees in stages since 2011 before they were teamed up.

TFBoys has a combined commercial value estimated at US$450mil (RM1.87bil).

Currently, Yee, now 21, and Karry, 22, are pursuing their studies at The Central Academy of Drama and Beijing Film Academy respectively while Roy, 21, is a student of Berklee College of Music in the US.

In a move to revamp the entertainment industry, the Chinese Communist Party’s publicity department recently announced a list of guidelines, which includes a ban on underage contestants (below 18) from all talent shows.

It called for a stop to sky-high remunerations of artistes, strengthen surveillance on fan pages, beef up tax inspections, regulate commercial endorsements of artistes, strict actions on those with immoral conducts and others.

Last month, pop idol Kris Wu Yifan was arrested on suspicion of rape in Beijing while Hunan Television host Qian Feng was also accused of the same crime in separate incident.

Lucas Wong, a former member of K-pop group NCT and SuperM, was accused of seeing different female fans at the same time, made them pay for hotels and cut off relationships after making his fans pay for luxury gifts.

Actress Zheng Shuang has been ordered to pay 299mil yuan (RM192mil) in fines, tax and penalties for tax evasion.

Earlier this year, the star was blacklisted by the National Radio and Television Administration following accusations of her using the service of surrogate mothers and later abandoned the two babies.

In 2018, actress Fan Bingbing was fined a hefty 883mil yuan (RM568mil) for tax evasion and other offences.

Actress–director Zhao Wei either had her name removed from her works or saw the TV series, films and talk shows she participated in been removed from online platforms.

The reason has yet to be announced.

Zhao, also a billionaire investor, was earlier involved in a lawsuit filed by 67 individuals, who demanded some 50mil yuan (RM32mil) in compensation for a misleading takeover in 2016.

Following this, she and her businessman husband Huang Youlong were banned from China’s securities markets for five years for market violations.