In a studio tucked inside a Shanghai mall, Shirley Chen is living out her K-pop idol dreams.
The 28-year-old is at Chen Go, a K-pop-inspired “idol experience centre”, where customers get a chance to live like their favourite stars, if only for a day.
Opened last year by entrepreneur Chen Rong, the centre attracts about 40 customers daily who dance choreographed routines and pretend to sign autographs for imagined fans at a mock meet-and-greet.
Guests can choose from more than 200 outfits — some imported from South Korea, others custom-made — and step into carefully designed sets designed to resemble backstage dressing rooms and South Korean music programmes.
A full package, including the outfit, shoes, hair, and makeup, set visitors back 329 yuan ($45.01).
“This place is great because they prepared a lot of backgrounds, you can change clothes, put together some videos by yourself, and accomplish your dreams of being an idol,” said Chen, who travelled from Ningbo, south of Shanghai, to celebrate her upcoming birthday at Chen Go.
“When I was a child, I liked to dance. So you could say that I wanted to develop on a similar (idol) path. However, as I got older, my parents wanted me to do something that could make money. So they kind of killed my childhood dreams in the cradle.”