Nearly a dozen Chinese local officials, including mayors and party secretaries from 11 prefecture-level cities in Shanxi Province, made a rare public appearance when they took part in a reality TV show in the hopes of boosting local tourism.

Wang Zhenyu, the charismatic 43-year-old vice mayor from Linfen city. [Photo / people.com.cn]

The show, entitled "Impressive Scenery of Shanxi", is the first of its kind in China to feature local officials – who have long been stereotyped as straight-faced and nondescript – making speeches in a competition based on public voting.

Without the participation of major celebrities or involvement of strong production teams like other wildly popular reality TV shows, the program, which has aired every Friday night since May 27, has turned out to be a great hit, its video clips quickly going viral online.

"The show is really cool and helps government officials seem more down to earth," commented a microblogger in China's twitter-like Weibo.

Ren Yangang, the 58-year-old vice mayor of the province's Yangquan city, could never have imagined that he would stand on the stage of a reality TV show promoting the city's major tourist attractions.

He even tried a concluding sentence in English with a strong local dialectic intonation – "Our Yangquan is a town of heroes" – at the end of his passionate speech, which drew much applause.

The program, a brainchild of the provincial radio and TV station, is part of a bidding procedure for 11 cities hoping to host the 2016 Shanxi Tourism Development Conference.

The candidate cities will be divided into 3 groups for preliminary contests, which will be followed by quarter-finals and finals in 8 editions of the show.

Mayors or party secretaries from the local CPC committees in candidate cities are expected to introduce their natural and historical landscapes and are subject to critical judgment from the jury as well as an open voting procedure by the audience.

Wang Zhenyu, the charismatic 43-year-old vice mayor from Linfen city, "looked like an executive speaking for an internet company at a product launch," commented one netizen.

Wang, wearing a navy blue shirt, used a lively tone in his speech as he invited the audience and judges to wear a VR (virtual reality) device in order to experience the city's beautiful landscape.

Linfen was the winner of that day's competition.

Observers say the show is, in some way, a "facelift" for a province dogged down by long-standing stereotypes of corruption and a cliff-like drop in economic growth.

"No matter which city wins the bidding for the host city, there will be a success for all of Shanxi," said Guo Jian, president of the Shanxi Radio and TV Station.

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