BUSINESS people know better than anybody else about the importance of timing.

While 30,000 fans were cheering their idols at the Super Girl concert in Tianhe Gymnasium on Saturday (Oct 29), merchandise boasting the images of the young singers were selling like hot cakes at the 98th Chinese Export Commodities Fair.

Pictures of Li Yuchun, Zhou Bichang and Zhang Liangying, which adorned a booth in the stationery and office supplies hall, attracted a big crowd. The exhibitor, a company from eastern Zhejiang Province, was selling crayons, ball pens, pencil boxes, glue, notebooks, and correction pens all carrying the images of the top three Super Girls.

The company spent 900,000 yuan (US$110,000) buying prepaid phone cards so it could cast text message votes for Zhou Bichang during the contest, as her name contained the character "Bi," which means "pen" and thus matched their products. It also purchased the exclusive right to use the images and names of the Super Girl winners.

Several Southeast Asian buyers had placed orders for the "Super Girl" stationery, a company official said. "As Li Yuchun was chosen an 'Asian hero' and had her face printed on the cover of a recent copy of the Time Magazine, the 'Super Girl' brand already has some influence among children in other parts of Asia."

Of course, the domestic market is the biggest attraction, with millions of Chinese primary and middle school girls being potential buyers of the "Super Girl" stationery.(Li Dan)

A visitor watches a poster of the Super Girls at a stationery booth at the Canton Fair. The fair concluded Sunday.

Editor: Wing