# Produce 101 China (创造101)
**Produce 101 China** (创造101) was a Chinese reality girl-group survival show broadcast on [Tencent Video](https://www.edgepedia.org/tencent-video) from April 21 to June 23, 2018, in which 101 female trainees competed through training, ranking announcements, and public performances until viewers' votes selected the 11 members of the temporary group Rocket Girls 101 (火箭少女101).[1](https://media.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0426/c40606-29950877.html) • [2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0702/c1012-30105872.html) It was the officially licensed Chinese version of the South Korean Mnet program *Produce 101*, and together with iQiyi's *Idol Producer* it marked what Chinese industry commentary called the country's "idol year one" (偶像元年).[3](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6044475.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Broadcast | April 21 to June 23, 2018, Tencent Video, 10 episodes, Saturdays, about 120 minutes each[4](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/36828/produce-101) |
| Format origin | Licensed adaptation of Mnet's Korean *Produce 101*; localization changes exceeded 50% of the original format[1](https://media.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0426/c40606-29950877.html) • [5](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20180818/6e086e3c9a41d7cb7725df4f152af4e5.html) |
| Contestant pool | 101 trainees chosen from 13,778 candidates at 457 companies and schools[5](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20180818/6e086e3c9a41d7cb7725df4f152af4e5.html) |
| Result | Rocket Girls 101 formed June 23, 2018: Meng Meiqi, Wu Xuanyi, Yang Chaoyue, Duan Aojuan, Yamy, Lai Meiyun, Zining, Sunnee, Li Ziting, Fu Jing, Xu Mengjie[2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0702/c1012-30105872.html) |
| Viewership | 190 million plays on the first day; over 63 million concurrent viewers for the finale livestream; about 4.44 billion total plays by the show's wrap[1](https://media.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0426/c40606-29950877.html) • [6](https://www.jiemian.com/article/2397139.html) |
| Group contract | Two-year "split" shared management contract giving Tencent's Zhoutian Entertainment exclusive, full management of the 11 members[7](https://companies.caixin.com/2018-08-18/101316392.html) |
| Aftermath | A 2018 dispute over three members was settled on August 17, 2018; the group disbanded on June 23, 2020 at the end of its term[7](https://companies.caixin.com/2018-08-18/101316392.html) • [8](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8172158) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
#### Season 1 (2018)
The season opens with a sorting. 101 girls from 457 companies and schools enter a closed dormitory and are graded A, B, C, D, or F based on auditions, seated on a pyramid-shaped bank of chairs whose shape, producer [Du Yan](https://www.edgepedia.org/du-yan) said, was deliberately metaphorical. The A row holds only eleven seats, and even that privilege is temporary: later challengers can knock the incumbents out of Class A. Within the first episodes the girls learn this is not a singing contest with a friendly face. It is a machine that turns popularity into a number and reads the number aloud every week.
The rhythm is one performance episode, one ranking-and-elimination episode, roughly a week of public voting in between. Viewers, called "founders of the girl group," vote daily for their favorites. The mentors coach vocal and dance teams through staged battles; the girls are re-sorted by class after every evaluation; and the eliminations thin the field from 101 toward the final 22. Localized twists keep the format from being a straight copy of the Korean original: a "diligence C-position" awarded for effort, knockout challenge rounds, a "rescue" mechanism for eliminated contestants, and "auditor" seats, rules that became buzzwords of their own.
Two contestants grow far beyond their storylines. One is Wang Ju, a plump, tan, unapologetically bold woman who looks nothing like the pale, slender Chinese idol template and says so on camera; the public falls for her defiance, and by the pre-finale rankings she has climbed to second place nationwide, behind only Meng Meiqi. The other is Yang Chaoyue, a village girl from Yunnan with thin skills, frequent tears, and total sincerity, whose hopeless auditions become must-watch television. The audience cannot stop voting for her, and the show cannot stop asking whether they should.
**In the last week before the finale, the show stages a graduation ceremony in which every one of the 22 finalists gets to stand, one at a time, on the C-position of a triangular stage formation while the letter she wrote to herself on day one of the 100 days is read aloud over the empty arena.** Director Sun Li had sketched the concept by hand only six days earlier, rejecting the Korean original's simple vote announcement because she wanted a form that expressed "my fate is in my own hands." There are no VCRs, no background reels, just the girls cycling through the top spot as their own voices fill the stadium. During rehearsal, when Wang Ju's letter reached the line "your life begins again," every contestant and staff member present was visibly moved, a moment widely called the emotional peak of the entire season.
The finale itself follows on June 23, 2018, with all 101 girls returning to perform the theme song and the top 22 fighting it out before guest star Li Yuchun, framed as a meeting of two generations of Chinese idol-making. The final vote is a photo finish: in the six days of daily rankings before the finale, Meng Meiqi and Wu Xuanyi each held first place three times. Meng Meiqi takes the center seat with 185,244,357 likes, beating Wu Xuanyi's 181,533,349. Yang Chaoyue debuts third with 138,560,781. Li Zixuan misses the group by a single place, finishing twelfth, and Wang Ju, the season's folk hero, falls out of the top eleven entirely. The eleven winners, Meng Meiqi, Wu Xuanyi, Yang Chaoyue, Duan Aojuan, Yamy, Lai Meiyun, Zining, Sunnee, Li Ziting, Fu Jing, and Xu Mengjie, are named Rocket Girls 101, with a two-year contract under Wajijiwa Entertainment.
The final image of the season is also its bitterest. During the last performances Yang Chaoyue's dancing falls so far behind the rhythm that "Yang Chaoyue slacking" becomes the number-one trending topic on Weibo, and she defends herself on stage by saying she could not remember three dances learned at once. The girl group of the people is born mid-argument about what the people actually voted for.
### Characters
- Meng Meiqi (孟美岐) is the powerhouse trainee whose vocal and dance command makes her the presumed center from the start; she trades first place with Wu Xuanyi all season and wins it when it counts.
- Wu Xuanyi (吴宣仪) is the bright, polished visual rival to Meng Meiqi, second in the final vote and first in fundraising speed, with her fans raising one million yuan in under 59 minutes.
- Yang Chaoyue (杨超越) is the season's lightning rod: a tearful, undertrained village girl whose sincerity and meme value carry her to third place, adored and attacked in the same breath.
- Wang Ju (王菊) is the unlikely fan favorite who challenges the industry's beauty standards outright, surging to second place before the finale and becoming the show's symbol of "turning the tables."
- Yamy, Duan Aojuan, Lai Meiyun, Zining, Sunnee, Li Ziting, Fu Jing, and Xu Mengjie round out the debuting eleven, from rapper-leader types to the SING girl group veteran Lai Meiyun debuting sixth.
- Li Zixuan (李子璇) is the heartbreak story of the finale, twelfth place, one spot short of the dream.
- [Huang Zitao](https://www.edgepedia.org/huang-zitao) hosts, and mentors Zhang Jie, Show Lo, Tiger Hu, Ella Chen, and [Wang Yibo](https://www.edgepedia.org/wang-yibo) coach, grade, and occasionally break hearts.
### Interpretations and controversies
The finale split the country. Critics argued the result collapsed the show's own slogan, "turn the tables against the wind, grow toward the sun": Yang Chaoyue, unable to keep up with choreography, "won lying down" through the diligence mechanism and the phrase "she works hard," so viewers felt her victory was unearned. Critics also faulted the finale itself for being stuffed with advertisements and celebrity guests, turning a serious competition into a commercial gala. Defenders countered that a public vote is a public vote, and that Yang Chaoyue's rise was the most honest thing reality television had produced in years. Producer Du Yan settled the debate by reframing the whole enterprise: not a song-and-dance variety show but "a social experiment of highly concentrated space and time," with Yang Chaoyue's emotional journey as its focal point. The debate over whether skill or popularity should build an idol group outlived the show by years.
### Sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations
The series is a localization of the Korean format [Produce 101](https://www.edgepedia.org/produce-101). Its success spawned Produce 101 China season 2 (the male-group Produce Camp 2019) and the broader Produce Camp franchise on Tencent Video. The winning group Rocket Girls 101 debuted as the show's direct spin-off product, sweeping new-artist group awards in 2018 and 2019 before disbanding in 2020 when the two-year contract expired.
## Format and origin
The show bought the copyright of the Korean Mnet music survival program *Produce 101* and adapted it for the Chinese market.[1](https://media.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0426/c40606-29950877.html) As in the Korean original, trainees from different agencies appeared as "practice students," were graded A through F by mentors in the early episodes, and moved up or down as votes accumulated; the top vote-getters debuted as a group rather than competing for a single champion, and the highest-ranked contestant was called the C position (C位), from the English word "Center," meaning the central spot in the group's formation.[9](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_3951103)
Unlike the 2005 singing competition *Super Girl*, the "101-series" shows dropped open public auditions, and only 6 of the 12 broadcast hours centered on stage performances, with the rest showing training and daily life.[9](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_3951103) Producer Ma Yankun (马延琨) publicly stated that localization exceeded 50% of the original format; for example, the Korean version placed no limit on A-class seats, while the Chinese version kept only 11 A-class members who could be replaced at any time by challengers.[5](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20180818/6e086e3c9a41d7cb7725df4f152af4e5.html) The show also introduced localized mechanics such as a "diligence C position," a challenge round, and a "rescue" mechanism for eliminated contestants, and it styled itself China's first girl-group youth growth program rather than a straightforward talent competition.[2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0702/c1012-30105872.html)
## Production and cast
Tencent Video produced the show with Tencent Music Entertainment Group, with Penguin Pictures and Qifeng Dongli as co-developers, at a reported production cost of 600 million yuan.[2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0702/c1012-30105872.html) • [10](https://news.sina.cn/gn/2018-05-08/detail-ihacuuvu7233016.d.html?vt=4) Huang Zitao served as the show's initiator and host, and the mentor panel comprised Zhang Jie, Show Luo (罗志祥), Hu Yanbin, Ella Chen, and Wang Yibo, each responsible for a specialty such as vocals or dance.[5](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20180818/6e086e3c9a41d7cb7725df4f152af4e5.html) More than 40 agencies supplied contestants, including [Yuehua Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/yuehua-entertainment), Huayi Brothers, Banana Entertainment, and Awakening East, making the program a competitive arena for talent agencies as well as for the trainees themselves.[1](https://media.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0426/c40606-29950877.html)
Production was closed and intensive: Tencent took over two floors of a hotel near Zhejiang Radio and [Television](https://www.edgepedia.org/television), confiscated the contestants' phones, and filmed nearly every moment of the 101 girls' three months of shared dormitory life, which the producer Du Yan described as a compressed social experiment rather than a conventional song-and-dance variety show.[5](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20180818/6e086e3c9a41d7cb7725df4f152af4e5.html)
## Reception and viewership
The show premiered on April 21, 2018 and recorded 190 million plays on its first day.[1](https://media.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0426/c40606-29950877.html) Its finale on June 23 drew over 63 million simultaneous livestream viewers, and by June 26 total online plays approached 5 billion, described at the time as the highest figure for a pure online variety show.[11](https://ent.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0629/c1012-30096566.html) A Maoyan report after the finale put cumulative plays at more than 4.44 billion.[6](https://www.jiemian.com/article/2397139.html)
Voting was monetized directly. Buying the show's customized cards granted 121 votes, one reason fan fundraising and vote totals for *Produce 101 China* far exceeded those of the earlier male-group show *Idol Producer*; the first-place finisher Meng Meiqi alone received 185 million final votes, against the roughly 40 million-plus votes that [Cai Xukun](https://www.edgepedia.org/cai-xukun) had received in *Idol Producer*.[12](https://www.36kr.com/p/1723822833665) A Korean academic comparison of the two countries' versions notes that, unlike Korea's equal one-person-one-vote principle, Chinese viewers could obtain additional votes by purchasing VIP memberships, giving the vote a more commercial character.[13](https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/detail?nodeId=T15689659)
The show's slogan, "turn the tide against the wind, grow toward the sun" (逆风翻盘，向阳而生), and contestants such as Yang Chaoyue and Wang Ju turned the program into a public topic beyond fan circles, with terms like "pick," girl-group dance, and C位 spreading widely on social media.[3](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6044475.html) • [14](https://research.cuhk.edu.hk/en/publications/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E8%A1%A8%E6%BC%94%E7%90%86%E8%AB%96%E8%A6%96%E8%A7%92%E4%B8%8B%E7%9A%84%E7%B2%89%E7%B5%B2%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6%E4%BB%A5%E5%81%B6%E5%83%8F%E9%A4%8A%E6%88%90%E9%A1%9E%E7%AF%80%E7%9B%AE%E5%89%B5%E9%80%A0101%E7%8E%8B%E8%8F%8A%E7%B2%89%E7%B5%B2%E7%82%BA%E6%A1%88%E4%BE%8B-research-on-fan-culture-from-2/)
## Rocket Girls 101 and the contract dispute
The 11 winners debuted as Rocket Girls 101 on June 23, 2018, after 114 days of training and selection.[2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0702/c1012-30105872.html) • [11](https://ent.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0629/c1012-30096566.html) Under the "split" shared management contract, the members' original agencies signed over exclusive, full management rights to Tencent's Zhoutian Entertainment for the group's two-year term, during which members could only work as Rocket Girls 101 and the original agencies received a share of revenue.[7](https://companies.caixin.com/2018-08-18/101316392.html)
Fifty-five days after the finale, Meng Meiqi, Wu Xuanyi, and Zhang Zining, originally from Yuehua Entertainment or Mairui Entertainment, left the group in a public dispute over the revenue split. On August 17, 2018, Zhoutian Entertainment reached a settlement with the two agencies and the three members returned to the group.[7](https://companies.caixin.com/2018-08-18/101316392.html) Industry analysis at the time treated the episode as exposing the core bottleneck of China's nascent idol industry, including immature business models and weak self-regulation.[15](https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H3_AP201809031186801623_1.pdf) The group completed its two-year term and disbanded, described by Ma Yankun as "handing in the first complete answer sheet," on June 23, 2020.[8](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8172158)
## Legacy and regulation
The show's success, alongside *Idol Producer*, was widely credited with opening China's "idol year one" in 2018 and with filling a market gap, since large-scale girl groups had been largely absent from the mainland market since S.H.E.[3](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6044475.html) • [2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0702/c1012-30105872.html) It was the first Tencent Video original variety show broadcast simultaneously overseas, and it seeded a "Chuang" (创造) series of follow-up seasons.[2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0702/c1012-30105872.html) • [8](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8172158)
Regulation followed quickly. In July 2018, officials issued a document instructing the "idol nurturing" talent-show subgenre to conform to the "correct" direction of public opinion and values.[16](https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/93525693/FULL_TEXT.PDF) The voting-and-fundraising model the show popularized continued to draw criticism; a later fan-voting controversy around a Rocket Girls 101 promotion campaign, in which the platform Maoyan first denied and then acknowledged vote manipulation, prompted public questions about the fairness of such campaigns.[6](https://www.jiemian.com/article/2397139.html)
## References
1. [超40家公司角力网综《创造101》 艺人培养以韩为师, 人民网/北京商报](https://media.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0426/c40606-29950877.html)
2. [《创造101》收官 "新偶像时代"未来可期, 人民网/环球网](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0702/c1012-30105872.html)
3. [选秀十八年：我们一直在寻找什么样的中国偶像, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6044475.html)
4. [Produce 101, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/36828/produce-101)
5. [《创造101》爆红：全镜头记录下无死角窥视, 21世纪经济报道](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20180818/6e086e3c9a41d7cb7725df4f152af4e5.html)
6. [火箭少女101粉丝应援投票活动引公正性质疑, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/2397139.html)
7. [独家｜"火箭少女101"纷争背后分成博弈几何?, 财新网](https://companies.caixin.com/2018-08-18/101316392.html)
8. [新秀第四年，腾讯视频的阶段性小结, 澎湃新闻](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8172158)
9. [流水一般的选秀，哪个省是铁打的"选秀"省？, 澎湃新闻](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_3951103)
10. [正版的《创造101》和抄来的《偶像练习生》谁会更火？, 新京报/新浪新闻](https://news.sina.cn/gn/2018-05-08/detail-ihacuuvu7233016.d.html?vt=4)
11. [《创造101》：塑造青年形象、传递中国情感, 人民网/环球网](https://ent.people.com.cn/GB/n1/2018/0629/c1012-30096566.html)
12. [被"催熟"的偶像选秀：集资混乱、粉丝举报、公司干预, 36氪](https://www.36kr.com/p/1723822833665)
13. [육성형 오디션 프로그램에 드러난 한국과 중국 간 경쟁문화 비교, DBpia](https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/detail?nodeId=T15689659)
14. [社會表演理論視角下的粉絲文化研究——以《創造101》王菊粉絲為案例, CUHK](https://research.cuhk.edu.hk/en/publications/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E8%A1%A8%E6%BC%94%E7%90%86%E8%AB%96%E8%A6%96%E8%A7%92%E4%B8%8B%E7%9A%84%E7%B2%89%E7%B5%B2%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6%E4%BB%A5%E5%81%B6%E5%83%8F%E9%A4%8A%E6%88%90%E9%A1%9E%E7%AF%80%E7%9B%AE%E5%89%B5%E9%80%A0101%E7%8E%8B%E8%8F%8A%E7%B2%89%E7%B5%B2%E7%82%BA%E6%A1%88%E4%BE%8B-research-on-fan-culture-from-2/)
15. [娱乐粉丝经济学专题报告之二, 国金证券](https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H3_AP201809031186801623_1.pdf)
16. [Sheng Qu, PhD thesis, University of Manchester](https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/93525693/FULL_TEXT.PDF)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Reality and competition franchise editions › Reality and competition franchises — overview and format history › Premiered 1995 to 2021*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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