Malaysian voices find favor with Chinese fans

Fish Leong is one of the most popular Malaysian singers in China.[Photo provided to China Daily]

With many Chinese mainland singers pursuing their careers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and abroad, many foreign singers have begun eyeing the Chinese market, namely from Malaysia.

A year after giving birth to her first child, Fish Leong, one of the most popular Chinese-Malaysian pop singers on the Chinese mainland, returned to the limelight with her latest single, If Possible. She performed the song at the Simple Life Music Festival in Shanghai in October and will kick off a world tour, Love Is Your Name, from March 2016.

Since she signed a contract with Taiwan's Rock Records in 1997, the 37-year-old, born in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, has won over millions of fans in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland.

Following in her footsteps, many Chinese-Malaysian singers have made their way to the Chinese mainland. Victor Wong, who also started his music career in Taiwan over a decade ago, recently came to Beijing to release his latest Mandarin album, Adulthood.

At 43, Wong, widely known as Pin Guan, rose to fame in 1994 along with Malaysian singer Michael Wong, also known as Guang Liang. The duo achieved fame with the release of their first album The Palm. Later the duo began pursing solo careers.

Victor Wong, who has released 12 solo albums, will hold a concert in Shanghai on Jan 9, 2016.

Over the past few years, young talents from Malaysia have attempted to make it big in the Chinese music scene by participating in reality TV shows.