The face of Chinese folk music

Inside suite number 1998 of the Chateau De Luze Hotel on Guanghua Lu, Chaoyang district, a small-framed man in a starched white flat cap and grey hooded sweatshirt tunes in to watch China Central Television (CCTV) news. He pads lithely around the room when Metro Beijing knocks and enters, his attention divided between the news and the sofa he politely offers to vacate. His luggage is a modicum of clothing and technology, none of which suggest the high-end garb of a wealthy celebrity.

Yet Zhang Shaochun, whose stage name is A Bao, is one of China's most recognizable faces. A Bao, 43, rose to fame as a traditional Chinese folk singer after becoming the first winner of TV talent show Xing Guang Da Dao (The Avenue of Stars) in 2004.

Since then he has performed in the 2006 Spring Festival Gala and enjoys regular TV appearances on CCTV3, a music channel. His short stay in Beijing is in order to train for a celebrity sports show titled Celebrity Splash.

A Bao's voice is unique for its wide range. He repeatedly refers to his "special voice," which he says doctors have attributed to "abnormally long vocal chords." A falsetto by default, A Bao is iconic as the peasant singer who wears a white towel headdress on stage.

Claim to fame

Originally from Shanxi Province, A Bao owes a lot to the modern world for his fame and fortune. TV gave him his big break, the Internet his nationwide fan base ranging in age from 16 to 60. But A Bao insists he prefers the simple life. He does not use a Weibo account or indeed own a car, despite owning a villa inside Beijing's Sixth Ring Road with several garages. He removes a Styrofoam advertisement from behind a wardrobe in the hotel suite, showing a split-image of himself, one as the towel-wrapped folk singer, the other as an R&B crooner in all black.

"I don't like using this stuff," he says shyly, thumbing the scroll button on his Chinese cell phone. He beams as he hands Metro the device, praising the one week battery life as though it were a cutting edge app. His modeling of the grey tablet doesn't pack the same punch as Chinese music celebrities Jay Chou or JJ Lin, but A Bao has only ever advertised food products, namely Jing Cheng Foods.

A Bao discovered his talent for singing at the age of 4. Despite his innate vocal talent, A Bao says his inspiration to sing came from an elderly folk singer from his hometown in Shanxi named Xing Ru, now deceased.