Let's Go! Oriental Angel

By Jonathan Chow

Earlier this month, we were walking through the Channel One mall when we came across auditions for a new reality tV series called 加油！东方天使 - roughly translatable into "Let's Go! Oriental Angel."

At first glance it looked like a low-budget China's Got Talent for girls and, while we had a laugh at everything that was going on, we didn't think much of it. But yesterday night, we happened upon the actual show being broadcast on a restaurant TV and it piqued our curiosity. We ran to do a web search when we got home.

Apparently, Let's Go! Oriental Angel is China's next big competition reality show and the sister show to another uberpopular program called Let's Go! Good Boys (加油！好男儿). The Shanghai audition we walked pass was just one of many held across the country with the hopes of finding the next Chinese female superstar.

Contestants not only have to bring their own special talent but also have to demonstrate some serious acting skills. The first section consists of what you'd normally expect from talent competitions (singing, dancing, playing an instrument), but what got us particularly psyched was the acting section. The re-enactment of dramatic scenes, where contestants cried and yelled and quiveringly studied imaginary pieces of paper, were pure entertainment in an unintentionally funny way.

After checking out the show's website, we found out that the five Shanghai finalists have already been picked. In case you're as curious as us, here are the girls representing our fine city:

From left to right: 顾莹 (Gu Ying), talent: traditional Chinese dance; 周诗嘉 (Zhou Shijia), talent: singing "all that jazz" from the musical Chicago; 娄婧 (Lou Jin), talent: singing a traditional Chinese song; 陆晟 (Lu Sheng), talent: traditional chinese dance; 奚梦瑶 (Xi Mengyao), talent: traditional Chinese dance.

Click here for a youku video in Chinese with footage and commentary of the 5 finalists: