ASINGING contest launched by Chongqing Television Station, mimicking talent shows like “Super Girl” and “American Idol,” has been halted for a week by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) because of its vulgar taste and low quality.

It is the first time a Chinese talent TV show has been brought to an immediate halt by the watchdog after SARFT issued regulations earlier this year imposing strict limits on the nature of live shows.

In SARFT’s announcement posted on its official Web site Wednesday, it criticized the Chongqing TV show, entitled “The First Heartbeat,” that it had made big mistakes in selecting judges, drawing up its game rules, selecting songs, and had poor management and broadcast supervision, which seriously damaged the image of Chinese TV. It also said the program could cause “unfavorable social effects.”

According to domestic media reports, SARFT’s announcement was made following the Aug. 10 live broadcast. During the show, a male contestant named Dai Chuang knelt down in front of judge Mandy Quah and begged her for a gift. Quah warned Dai that it was a live show and some of the TV crew even came forward to stop Dai. During the stalemate, Quah took a ring off her finger and gave it to Dai.

After several minutes, Dai said his motivation was to present the ring to a beautiful and sexy lady, Yang Erche Namu, another judge on the show. Dai then knelt down in front of Yang, put the ring on her finger and kissed her hand.

Later, Quah asked Dai whom he would choose as a girlfriend, her or Yang. Dai said Quah because he thought Quah was younger and Yang was stupid. This remark irritated both women judges and Quah even cried.

The chaotic and uncontrolled scene brought sharp criticism from domestic media, saying the live show was in poor taste and unprofessional.

Meanwhile, a blog written by another contestant Guo Xuanyu also dropped the TV show in hot water. Guo wrote that the TV show had poor management and low-quality dance teachers, falsely recorded the number of mobile message votes, and issued inaccurate self-promoting press releases.

Zhou Zhishun, the show’s chief director, confirmed to the media Wednesday that the SARFT announcement was due to the Aug. 10 show but had nothing to do with Guo’s blog. “Those are his personal comments. Perhaps he is not happy about being eliminated in the previous rounds.”

Quah, a former Taiwan Whitney Houston, is famous for her bitter comments as a talent show judge. This year, due to rumors about her bad relationship with Yang Erche Namu, the two women’s names have frequently been in newspaper headlines.

He Wei, deputy director of Chong-qing TV, said the program is under review. “We definitely need to make some changes to future shows but I don’t know when it will run again.”(Cao Zhen)