As the old saying goes, all roads lead to Rome. But who wouldn't want a short cut? For all amateur singers who long to be tomorrow's superstars, the annual national TV singing contest is the way to their Rome.

This is the 11th China Young Singer TV Contest, the country's second longest-running TV show. After three weeks of preliminary contests and three days of semi-finals, the line-up for the final of the amateur group was finally announced on Monday night.

Twelve lucky dogs out the seventy-four semi-finalists will battle it out for the crown on Friday night.

This year, nearly 600 singers, professional and amateur, registered for the contest, making it the biggest one ever. And for the first time, the contest is being extended to overseas Chinese singers.

The popular TV contest rocketed many obscure singers to national stardom in the past decade, like pop queens Mao Amin and Na Ying. It is the cradle for Chinese idols.

(CCTV.com April 28, 2004)