THE winner of a Northwich talent show has proved a massive hit in China with more than 15 million people watching his fusion pop video on the internet.

Shaun Gibson, who won Northwich Has Got Talent in January with a self-penned ballad, has been splashed across newspapers and TV news after doing his own version of cheesy Chinese pop hit Xiao Ping Guo, which translates as My Little Apple.

"It turns out it's a lot more popular than I ever imagined," he said.

"I was joking with my friends that maybe I would get to one million hits but it got more than 15 million in two weeks.

"It's on six major video websites, became very very popular very fast and ended up on the home pages of all of them.

"I've been in province newspapers, Chinese national newspapers and national TV news and there's potential for me to have a TV show as well."

The 24-year-old was introduced to the Chopsticks Brothers' song by a friend in Beijing while holidaying in China in June.

"My friend said he didn't like it because it was really cheesy, but I love it – it's like a guilty Europop pleasure," he said.

He has always enjoyed listening to Chinese music, translating songs and putting his own stamp on them and could not resist giving Xiao Ping Guo the Shaun Gibson treatment.

This included making an eye catching video, which was filmed in Liverpool and used costumes shipped over from China.

It soon racked up millions of hits on Chinese video sharing websites and more than 66,000 on the popular western video site YouTube.

Shaun, a former Hartford High School and Sir John Deane's College student, said: "It was a slow burner on YouTube but has started to pick up now.

"A lot of views are from Chinese communities around the world, there are 12,000 to 13,000 from America.

"It's been seen in 154 countries, even countries I've never heard of.

"I try to keep my feet on the ground as much as I can.

"This is what I always wanted – a chance for a lot of exposure, although I didn't expect as much.

"My plan is the same as it always was – keep creating videos and music and turn it into a career."

For more information about Shaun visit facebook.com/shaungibsonmuso