the competition was open to any female regardless of age, origin or appearance. the audition sessions had females ranging from 4 to 89 years old. the 2005 season of the contest attracted more than 120,000 applicants during the preliminary selection rounds, held in the provinces hunan, sichuan, guangdong, henan and zhejiang. many applicants travelled long distances to take part in the competition. each contestant was allowed 30 seconds to perform to judges and find out if they were selected for the preliminary regional rounds. to prevent another overwhelming audition season, the minimum age of 18 was later set during the 2006 season.