Chinese Idol 李宇春

Today on Yahoo China, the most searched keyword in the Celebrity's category is 李宇春, or Li Yuchun, if you will.

For a comprehensive explanation of this person (she is a girl, by the way) please check out the Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Yuchun

Although she looks more like a girlish boy than a boyish girl (and the voice, too), Li Yuchun is probably one of the most popular and most talked about young celebrities in China today. She came to the whole country's attention after winning the "Super Girl" contest, which is the Chinese version of American Idol, in 2005.

Most of her fans are naturally, female, as she does not possess the usual feminine qualities that attract young male fans.  But what makes these Chinese girl so crazy about Li Yuchun? Is this some sort of collective Lesbianism?

A quick research on several Chinese forums reveals the following:

"Yu Mi" (Chinese translation: fans of "Yu", and the pronunciation sounds similar to "corn" in Chinese, apparently this is supposed to be cute) say they like "Chun Chun" because she is :

• different from the other girlie girls
• natural, unpretentious 
• friendly
• cool, handsome, pretty (ok.....)
• a little shy, but charismatic on stage
• cute
• what she says on stage sounds unrehearsed and genuine
• bows like a gentleman on stage (yes, I know, this is a little weird...)
• does not deliberately do things to please her audience, her face shows what she feels

People who don't like her think her popularity is due the fact that "she gives people more confidence."

Some also suggest that Li won the contest and went on to be a huge pop star because the "Super Girl" contest offered hidden democracy. Audience was able to choose the final winner by sending in SMS messages. Li's being picked on by the panel of judges at the beginning of the show probably also helped as some see Li's final victory as "victory of the people over a small group of elites" ....wait, that sounds more like communism, now I am confused...