Super Girl or Super Voice Girls was a Chinese singing contest for female contestants, organized by Hunan Satellite Television between 2004 and 2006. The show's official name was Mengniu Yoghurt Super Girl Contest until 2009 it was known as BBK Music Phone Super Girl Contest, after the company that sponsored the series. It was generally described as the unofficial mainland Chinese version of the global television franchise Pop Idol and became one the most popular entertainment shows in the country. Despite Super Girl's major popularity and success, the show was heavily criticised by Liu Zhongde, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He essentially claimed Super Girl was poison for the youth.
The program was relaunched in 2009. The Chinese title was changed to 快乐女声 though the English title remains unchanged. In 2011, the Chinese government banned Super Girl from airing, claiming the program to be too long. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television told the Hunan station that Super Girl broke time rules for this kind of show. They should be no more than 90 minutes long, but episodes of Super Girl can last more than three hours. More than 2.5 billion people watch the show.
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