Voices that travel

Lotte Girls is another popular Chinese-Korean idol group. Provided to China Daily

Nearly 10,000 people turned up to audition for the cross-cultural boy band, before the talented six were chosen to form TimeZ.

The group underwent a two-year training in singing, dancing and language skills, before they gave their first stage performance.

"I like K-pop and language is never a barrier," says 17-year-old Mao Ruoyi, the youngest in the group. He has been learning ballet since young and is in charge of singing rap in the group.

Judging from their sold-out shows in China and South Korea as well as being awarded the New Asian Artist at 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards held in Hong Kong on Nov 30, the future of the boy group looks bright.

"The vision is to go international. It is not just about releasing albums anymore. It's about live shows, making videos, and social media," Si says.

"The internet gives us freedom to express and share our art. We can interact with the fans and release new singles before a full studio CD."

Jin Qizhong, the artistic director of China Music, a mainland music label which created Lotte Girls, a Chinese-Korean quintet, says recruiting international artists is a selling point and helps broaden their fan bases.

"For China, the fans badly need an idol group to latch on to," says Jin, who made the first Chinese album, It's the Time, for former H.O.T. member Lee Jae-won last year.

He also points out that K-pop has transformed in the past few years. He says K-pop's exports have been growing at an average annual rate of nearly 80 percent since 2007 and China is a major importer.

"K-pop has never disappeared because it keeps evolving," he says. "After H.O.T. disbanded, comes Big Bang and Girls' Generation. Now Psy's Gangnam Style conquers the whole world."

It's one thing to create an idol group, but keeping it alive and constantly developing is another issue.

One of the most successful Sino-Korean groups is Super Junior formed in 2005, which had Chinese singer Han Geng leaving in 2009 to pursue his solo career.

Another is EXO-M, a Sino-Korean boy band with 12 members - half of them sing in Korean, the other half in Mandarin.

Si is not worried about the future of young idol groups. He says an idol group is destined to be separated sooner or later.

"Each member can have their own career and new faces always show up, but it doesn't mean the group is gone," he says.

TimeZ's leader Kong Shuhang, who's from Shangdong province, says he's aware that their popularity could fade as fast as it came.

"We believe in working hard. Our manager always tells us not to get too comfortable because it can all go away really fast," he says.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn.