Following AKB48's creator Yasushi Akimoto's concept of "idols you can meet", the group features dozens of female members around the age of 20 (16 to 30), who perform regularly in the group's own theater and interact with fans predominantly via the official Pocket48/口袋48 App online and offline via theater and handshake events.
", with 16 selected members on stage performing the Chinese version of "Heavy Rotation", "River" and "Ponytail to Shushu".
Mariya Suzuki and Sae Miyazawa made their theater debut in October, after receiving working visas in China.
In November the group held a concert in Guangzhou with an audience of 10,000, and released a third EP, Fortune Cookie of Love.
[10] On May 10, they released their first album, Mae Shika Mukanee (一心向前), in digital form, at the same time kick-starting voting for their first General Election.
During the General Election of the year, held on July 25 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, Shanghai, Zhao Jiamin was crowned winner.
On March 3, Tang Anqi, was the victim of attempted murder by being set on fire at a coffee shop in Shanghai and suffered severe burns on 80% of her body.
The next day, according to a report by Southern Metropolis Entertainment Weekly, AKB48 founder Kotaro Shiba made a call to the SNH48 management, saying that he fully understood and supported SNH48's move towards originality.
SNH48 held its third General Election on July 30 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, with Ju Jingyi emerging as winner with 230,752.7 votes.
On January 12, SNH48's sister group in Shenyang, SHY48, was formed, and they held their first performance in the newly opened SHY48 theatre.
[13] Meanwhile, they held the "SNH48 4th Anniversary Concert" at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition Hall 4, involving all first-generation members as well as a few others from subsequent generations.
On January 27, some members performed on the CCTV New Year's Gala 2017 as backup dancers during a segment with Coco Lee and JJ Lin.
On May 19, they released their 16th EP, "Summer Pirates", of which its title song involves SHY48 members for the first time, and its music video is shot in Australia.
On June 2, Star48 held the launching ceremony for SNH48's fourth General Election, in which a sister group, CKG48, was announced.
On September 25, during a meeting with several companies in Qingyang District, Chengdu, 11 Star48 projects were signed, and Wang Zijie announced that a fifth sister group, CGT48, is in the making.
On October 27, SNH48's sister group in Chongqing, CKG48, was formed, and they held a press conference in the newly opened CKG48 theatre.
During this event, it was announced that they have partnered with Sina Weibo in setting up the "SNH48 Election Chart", opening up another channel for fans to vote for their idols.
On June 29, SNH48 Group's management, Star48, opened a global audition to recruit youths to be trained to become artists.
On July 28, SNH48 Group held the fifth General Election at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, at which Li Yitong won with 402040.4 votes.
During this event, it was announced that they would open its first Korean style training centre, and that SNH48 Group's annual Fashion Awards and Request Time would be held in Beijing and Guangzhou respectively.
On September 7, SNH48 Group held the launching ceremony for its fifth Request Time, which marked the debut of its sub-units HO2 and BlueV.
On October 27, SNH48 Group held their fourth Fashion Awards at the Beijing National Aquatics Center, in which BEJ48's Qing Yuwen came in first.
The results for SNH48 Group's Team Shuffle were announced, including the launch of the overseas trainee program, where five members: Gao Chong, Li Jia'en, Wang Qiuru, Xu Jiayin and Zhou Ruilin, were selected to go to the overseas base for a two-year high-level closed training, and "IDOLS Ft", a system for idols to interact with fans through the Pocket 48 app,.
On April 13, SNH48 Group held its second Idol Games at the Shanghai Baoshan Gymnasium, in which Team HII emerged as the overall winner.
On September 14, they released their 26th EP, Poetry About Time; on that day they also held their sixth anniversary special stage and announced four 12th-generation members during this event.
On January 2, 2020, Star48 announced JNR48, a sister group created by Shanghai Xiaoyuan Art, which recruits girls between the ages of 6 and 14 who love to sing, dance and perform.
[31] On January 15, Star48 announced that 10 SNH48 Group members would participate in iQIYI's reality show Youth With You 2, namely SNH48's Mo Han, Xu Jiaqi, Song Xinran, Dai Meng, Sun Rui, Fei Qinyuan, Xu-Yang Yuzhuo and Zhang Yuge, and BEJ48's Duan Yixuan and Su Shanshan.
On August 15, they held their seventh General Election at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, the first without the participation of SNH48's first-generation members.
[36] Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, BEJ48 was facing financial difficulties after its theater was closed for a prolonged period.
Its strategy, which is modeled after AKB48's, involves teams of interchangeable singers, allowing to build generations of female stars and longer-lasting revenue streams.