THE second season of popular Chinese singing contest “The Voice of China” was launched Wednesday in Beijing.

    Hosted by Zhejiang Satellite TV, the show is part of “The Voice” franchise and is based on Dutch program “The Voice of Holland.”

    Premiered July 13, 2012, the first season featured four famous singers as coaches, Yang Kun, Na Ying, Liu Huan and Harlem Yu. The winner was Liang Bo, a 21-year-old man from Jilin Province.

    The identities of the coaches for the second season, which is scheduled to start airing in June, have not been decided yet, according to Jin Lei, the show’s director. Jin said they planned to invite pop legends Faye Wong, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Liu Huan, again, to be this year’s coaches. Negotiations are still in process.

    Lu Wei, the show’s publicity director, said the show’s crew are seeking contestants from around the world and planned to select 300 contestants for the show.

    In the first season, the four coaches chose teams of contestants through a blind audition process, meaning they initially had their backs to the contestants. If two or more judges wanted the same singer (as happened frequently), the singer had the final choice of coach. Then, each team of singers was mentored and developed by its respective coach. Finally, the contestants competed in later battles.

    For the second season, however, Lu said changes would be made to the format. One change is that coaches may still have the chance to choose their favorite contestants in later battles.(Cao Zhen)