Yeah, competition in mainland IS really intense. But SC's acting skills are, IMO, much better than many others, and at such a young age, too. She really shows a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it seems like her looks aren't the type that directors and producers really go for a lot, even if I think she's quite pretty. (Then again, I'm a girl, and most directors/producers are guys, so they probably have quite different mindsets!
) But it brings me back to the eyecandy point--there is so much female eyecandy around because lots of the male directors etc. go for them, and they know that male audiences love them too. Take LYF, for example--yes, I heard that her acting improved SUBSTANTIALLY in ROCH, but honestly, when she started (like in "Jin Fen Shi Jia" and TLBB), I was seriously unimpressed by her acting. Sure, she's really pretty, but I felt that the large roles she was getting just didn't match up with her talent. For SC, it's the opposite--the little roles she's getting also doesn't match up with her talent, and I think she's only marginally less pretty than LYF (actually, from some angles, I think SC's more beautiful).
For guys, it's different. Male actors can't land roles by looks alone (which is the way it should be done, IMO). They have to have talent to get large roles, and a lot of the times, very good-looking actors are less talented than average-looking actors, so the average-looking ones get the roles. Again, this is the right way to go (though I wouldn't mind some eyecandy, either!
). It only irks me because there are different standards for actors and actresses, which is supremely unfair. But hey, this isn't going to change anytime soon.