Musician Shang Wenjie's outlandish fashion statements say more than most care to hear. Han Bingbin reports.
When Chinese people call Shang Wenjie "China's Lady Gaga", it's not meant as a compliment.
Rather, the moniker conveys disdain for her imitation of Western fashion.
Shang traipses across red carpets with half her face painted yellow, her hair curled into a ball of frizzled wool, a mask shaped like an eagle's beak or headgear shaped like a bird's nest.
Such daring antics have earned her another nickname - "Leiren Jiaomu", which translates as, "Lady Shock".
To these detractors, she has failed to live up to the role of being China's Lady Gaga.
Her current image would have been unimaginable when the former French major at Shanghai's Fudan University first appeared in the "fair lady" role of the 2006 Super Girl reality TV singing competition, China's take on American Idol.
Shang dressed more conservatively than the other contestants and barely moved onstage. She projected what audiences widely considered a "petty bourgeois" identity, marked by reticence, elegance and arrogance.
Kevin Tsai, the Taiwan talk show host who judged the competition in 2006, said: "I would love to hear you sing jazz in a little pub."
Then, people were more likely to liken her to Norah Jones or Ono Lisa.
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