Web battle pits older star, upstart

In one corner was a highly successful veteran of the pop music industry and in the other, a singer half his age bolstered by millions of enthusiastic, web-savvy young fans.

In this new type of celebrity battle, fan support was more important than concert box-office tallies, music sales, critics' reviews or any of the traditional measurements for music industry success.

The battle was waged by fans of the two singers on the Chinese micro blog Sina Weibo.