The pop Tv drama "Meteor Garden"(Liuxing Huayuan) has become so controversial since its airing that it was banned from broadcast on TV stations across the Chinese mainland this week as a result of strong protests by parents and educators. 
While the 18-episode love story captured the hearts of many teens and young adults with its good-looking cast and Cinderella-style plot, parents were upset over its campus violence and the excessive lifestyle of the heroes. They worried that dream-like descriptions in the drama could lead their children away from real-life responsibilities. According to Beijing Youth Daily, the banning order issued by the State Administration of Radio Film and Television reads: Meteor Garden is prohibited from broadcast because of its tendency to mislead teenagers. The made-in-Taiwan series is set in an elite prep school for affluent students. When a new, spirited girl from a middle-class family enters the campus, the four most popular and affluent boys, the F4 , soon develop a love-hate relationship with her. With candy-eye casts, sentimental storylines and catchy theme songs, the romantic series appeals to local audiences looking for an alternative to Hollywood. F4, namely Jerry Yen Cheng-hsu, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu and Ken Zhu, already have shot from total unknowns to pin-up idols. Their debut album "Meteor Rain"has sold over 180,000 copies in Taiwan alone. A university student who gave her name as Ding watched the drama by downloading every episode from the Internet. She thought the story revolved around school life, so she could relate to it and she like to watch love stories in which the guy and girl have to overcome lots of barriers. Many college students also said  the show's really funny. Not surprisingly, parents and teachers see something different in the idol drama based on a Japanese cartoon. A man whose daughter is keen on F4 considered the drama's irony is that there is nothing really extraordinary about them, apart from the fact that they are all lanky (1.8 m) and good-looking and he didn't know why so many people are infatuated with them very much.

