The debut of the Panda Boys, a new idol group formed by young Chinese boys all under 10 years old, on Friday has become the target of criticism on Chinese social media, prompting the band's agency to issue a statement on Saturday that netizens described as "sugar coating."
The extremely young boy band's debut swiftly became a trending topic on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo, with many netizens expressing concerns that while the boys - the youngest 7 years old - may be are gifted in music and dance, they still are too young to be thrown into the complicated arena- the entertainment industry.
"Does this suggest that the next boy group that debuts has to include children in a nursery?" posted one netizen on Sina Weibo.
The mountain of criticism may have been too much as the group's agency Asia Starry Sky Group issued a response on Sina Weibo on Saturday. Besides describing itself as a "children's education explorer that is full of passion," the agency also clarified that the company does not treat the young boys as "money-making tools" and that it requires the members to prioritize their studies over band training.
Even though the statement attempted to address netizens' concerns, due to the agency's business nature and the fact that it has signed up school-age boys, discontented netizens said that while the company has "sugar coated" its intentions to make money, they believe the boys will likely be "exploited" because "young idol" is another word for "profit" in the current idol industry.
On Tuesday, the young idol band's agency Asia Starry Sky Group stunned netizens by announcing that the group that had just debuted on Friday had been officially disbanded.