Super Girl sings her way to Oprah show

Jane Zhang ended up as second runner-up in Super Girls '05 but the star singer has gone one up on the winner by appearing on Oprah Winfrey's show.

The uber-host of American talkshows introduced Zhang as the "Dolphin Princess" for her May 11 show called The World's Got Talent.

Oprah picked a select group of singers who made it big in television contests ranging from the UK to Afghanistan. Jane Zhang represented China and appeared in person, unlike Briton Susan Boyle who was beamed via satellite from her Scotland home.

The Chinese singer was unaware of the power and stature of Oprah, thinking it was just another television appearance. "So, I did not feel much pressure," Zhang told China Daily. The taping was in Chicago on May 8, and Oprah's producers selected two Chinese songs, merging them into a three-minute medley.

"I loved singing Chinese songs to the American audience," said Zhang, "and for English songs, I covered those they're familiar with."

Zhang sang Loving You, which was not included in the American broadcast, and snippets from Hero, the Mariah Carey signature hit. Simon Cowell, the British judge on both American Idol and Britain's Got Talent, looked on with studied nonchalance, winking at one time.