1. The new pop group called "56 Flowers" is believed to be the biggest all-girl pop group in the world, according to China's state media Global Times.
World's largest all-girl pop group makes debut in Beijing http://t.co/o6zdnZ7ej2
Let's just call them FLW56 for easy reference.
2. FLW56 will draw a lot of comparisons to its Japanese counterpart AKB48 with a name that's as easy to remember but is more symbolic for Chinese listeners.
View this video on YouTube
“56 Flowers” comes from a two-decade-old patriotic song called "Love My China," that you can watch here. Don't play it to a Chinese native, though, because they might not be able to resist echoing the iconic line “56 ethnic groups, 56 flowers, 56 siblings are family."
3. The 56 girls in the group were selected by China's Ministry of Culture out of the country's officially recognized 56 ethnic groups, each as "the most talented representative for one ethnic group."
The Han are the biggest ethnic group, making up over 90% of Chinese population. The other 55 groups include the Zhuang, Hui, Manchu, Uyghurs, Miao... You can have a glance at all of them at state newspaper People's Daily's English website.
4. FLW56 is a very, very new group — less than a month old.
Now we have a new girl group called 56 Flowers, representing 56 nationalities of China... http://t.co/2bQt8cEI8w
It made its debut in a gala show named "CCTV 56 Flowers China Dream The Most Beautiful", hosted by state-owned television channel CCTV on June 28 in Beijing.
5. The group is already looking to distinguish itself from other girl-pop groups in the region.
6. That makes comparisons with their counterparts in North Korea — pop-girl group Moranbong Band — are pretty easy.
7. The group is promoting itself as being upright, pure, young and thus appropriate for all ages.
8. The group also claims to be better-trained than most girl groups, with an all-round skill-set.
9. This is what one of their performances looks like. It's...really something.
View this video on YouTube
10. We try to translate some of the lyrics to the song below:
I love Beijing Tiananmen,
We love Yellow River and Mount Tai,
We are the offsprings of dragon,
Our dream is called the dream of China.
Chinese people,
Love this song the most,
56 ethnic groups,
56 flowers,
Chinese people,
Love the Five-Star Red Flag.
Forever we are the most,
The most colorful flowers.
11. You just can't stop staring at them running in line on stage.
12. It is even more difficult once they start twirling.
13. The group has performed in the world's most mysterious place.
14. FLW56 will have a TV reality show during the summer according to state news agency Xinhua, which we are super looking forward to.
15. But the Chinese Internet hasn't quite bought into the group yet.
Under the Sina Weibo hashtag of the group, only about 718 people have commented. Last year, a pop boy-band member broke Guinness Records by receiving over 13 million comments in one single post.
16. And they might not actually be the largest girl-group!
17. But the girls of Flower 56 are very productive — a debut album, "1356," is already published.
There's of course a ~deeper meaning~ to the album – there are 13 songs in total, 56 minutes long, representing 1.3 billion Chinese and 56 ethnic groups, according to The Paper.
Some of the great songs are: "I love Beijing Tiananmen," "10,000 Mile Great Wall Won't Fall," and, who could forget the classic "The Sighing American People."
18. And the group is aiming high, wanting to tour all across the region.
According to local media Caijing, its organizers said, "We want to perform in Japan...We want to be in Taiwan, Southeast Asia or even the rest of the world. ... That way the world will learn more about Chinese culture."