Wikipedia:WikiProject China/Chinese-language entertainment/Getting Started

Getting started on an article — whether you're expanding it or creating it — is certainly hard work. Here are some tips that may help.

See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Chinese-language entertainment/Manual of Style

See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Modern Chinese music/Naming Conventions

See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (China-related articles)

How to find information

A lot of this is obvious to some people, but for people not as familiar with researching C-pop artists, here's a guide.

• Google is not exactly the greatest for Cantopop or Mandopop information. It is, however, good for artists who have unique names e.g. Jolin Tsai. You could just type in "Jolin" and you'd get a lot of relevant links. It is likewise terrible for artists whose names are common English words e.g. Energy (band), Fahrenheit (Taiwanese band), Twins (band).

  Note: F4 may be known now as JVKV, but almost 95% of the info lurking around the Internet refers to them as F4. Make sure you apply search filters so you don't get techie tips on how to close your Internet browser (i.e. press Alt-F4).

• If possible, search using English-language Chinese sites. Examples include CRI English, the Taipei Times, and Xinhua English. If the feature is there, make good use of the engine's archive. If they archive information beyond a year or two, then there's a good chance you'll find some nice info.
• If you can't find good English-language information, Baidu is a good Chinese-language alternative. If you're searching in Baidu (or another Chinese-language search engine such as Google Taiwan or Yahoo! China), use the artist's Chinese name first, then use the English one. If artists are promoted mostly using their English names (e.g. Hebe), then do a English name search.
• Other information sources you might want to use are magazine and newspaper articles. If the artist is famous enough (e.g. the Four Heavenly Kings), there might even be books on them.

Information to avoid

• We do not need to know what their favourite ice cream flavour is. We also don't need to know how many people the person is rumoured to be involved with. Rumours are bad, and add zero encyclopedic value. However, if the relationship is confirmed, i.e. with a statement that says something like "Yes, we're together now and we're very happy!", then include that in a Personal Life section.
• Company profiles are bad. Very bad. Why? Other than the artist's birth date and place of origin, there's no real encyclopedic value. Favourite artist? Favourite colour? Unless you can (magically) fit the info into the article and make it relevant, then kudos to you. Otherwise, NO.
• Do not use album reviews provided by sites that use anonymous handles. Chinesemusicblog.com is an example. Karazen is another. Most of these reviews are compiled by people whose names cannot be verified, making the claims then somewhat dubious. If album reviews are to be used, please cite them from music sites e.g. Hitoradio, or news sites e.g. Sina.com.

When to make separate discography pages.

If the discographies are inhumanely long (10 or more), then feel free to make a separate discography page. The standard lead is "This is the discography of Mandopop/Cantopop artist <insert name here>." You can always expand on the lead to provide a brief summary.

No album covers in discographies, please!