The Voice of the Silk Road
The Voice of the Silk Road (, ; ) is a reality talent show based in Xinjiang, China and broadcast in the Uyghur language. The television show airs regularly on Xinjiang Television Channel 9. The show is recorded at the Xinjiang Arts Institute Concert Hall. The show premiered on 31 October 2014 as the first Uyghur televised singing competition of its kind and received positive reviews from the start. Format. The television program is primarily conducted in Uyghur with Mandarin Chinese subtitles; occasionally, particularly when there are non-Uyghur, Mandarin-speaking contestants, participants and/or judges may converse  in Mandarin, with Uyghur subtitles provided. Songs are typically sung in Uyghur, sometimes in Mandarin Chinese and occasionally in English. Contestants are typically, but not always, aspiring singers from Xinjiang or surrounding areas, including residents of other parts of China as well as Central Asia. The format is similar to that of other television shows in "The Voice" franchise. The series consists of three phases: a blind audition, a battle phase and live performance shows. Prior to the start of the show there is a pre-screening process, to determine who may enter the competition; successful contestants may enter the  blind audition phase of the competition. Only a select few contestants advance to the blind audition phase which is broadcast live on television. At the start of the series four judges choose teams of contestants through a live blind audition process; these teams will be coached by their selected judge during the competition. Contestants come forward to sing a selected song on stage with the judges' backs turned. A judge who likes the contestant's performance and would like to mentor that performer may then press a button attached to his/her seat to indicate that the judge has accepted  the performer for his/her team. Each judge has the length of the auditioner's performance to decide if he/she will accept that singer on his/her team. After the live blind audition, all judges turn around their chairs, the singer introduces himself/herself and then the judges may elect to provide feedback or ask further questions. Judges cannot retroactively select a performer after the live blind audition has finished. It is possible that no judges may accept a performer, in which case that performer may automatically be eliminated from the competition. If only one judge accepts the  performer, that singer is automatically on his/her team. If two or more judges accept the same singer, as happens frequently, the singer has the final choice of coach; during this time the accepting judges may also attempt to convince the performer to choose his/her team. Finally, the performer chooses his/her coach among the accepting judges and joins that team. The singer then competes with other singers in the battle phase, in which singers from the same team compete head to head while singing the same song and the best singers are selected to continue. The performances are  no longer blind; judges will see both singers on stage simultaneously and compare their performance. Judges then evaluate the performers and provide feedback, selecting the stronger performers to remain on the team and continue with the competition. Following that is the live performance shows phase. Contestants are gradually eliminated until one winner remains. Judges. The judges for the seasons before 4th season are: