Watch the CGM Spring Festival Gala with us. It’s that special annual evening show that captures millions of viewers on the night of the Chinese New Year. Loved by many, hated by some, it always generates social media buzz. We’ll bring you the ins & outs of the 2026 Gala and its social media frenzy, with updates before, during, and after the show.

It is time again for the China Media Group Spring Festival gala – better known as the ‘Chunwan’ (春晚) – one of China’s most significant televised cultural events of the year, organized and produced by the state-run CCTV since 1983 and broadcast across dozens of channels, watched by millions.

What can we expect a typical Chunwan to look like? The programme usually runs for about four hours, from 20:00 China Standard Time to a little past midnight, and features around 30 acts: acrobatics, singing, dance, comic sketches (xiaopin 小品), crosstalk (xiangsheng 相声), magic, Peking Opera, public service segments, and tributes to national heroes. This year, however, some things will be different — more on that soon.

Liveblogging the show has become something of a personal tradition. You can explore more of my Gala coverage on the website here, spanning the past ten years, during which I liveblogged eight editions.

Tonight, I’m watching the Gala together with Miranda Barnes and Ruixin Zhang, so follow along in the liveblog below. Keep the page open and you should hear a ping when new updates arrive.

Update: This liveblog is now closed. You can still read all updates below, sorted from oldest to newest.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 19:06

About an hour to go — about the final version of the program

As we’re waiting for the event to kick off, a little bit about the show’s background. Because it’s not just the Gala night itself that has become a tradition, both online and offline, but also the discussions and buzz surrounding it.

As every year, the final version of the programme is only released quite last-minute, even though the full show — behind the scenes — has already gone through multiple rehearsals and generated plenty of anticipation.

There is likely some risk calculation behind this, as things can still change at the last minute. But the element of surprise in the final performance lineup also adds to the excitement and helps boost viewership, with discussions over who will perform what continuing well into the evening as the show begins.

The full program is typically distributed by China Media Group (CMG) as an extremely long, scrollable image designed for phone viewing, which also makes it a bit harder to copy and paste (though easier in the AI era).

By the way, CMG, the main organizer of the Gala, is an umbrella media powerhouse that includes the national television broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), the national radio network China National Radio (CNR), and international broadcaster China Radio International (CRI).

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 19:35

What can we expect to stand out at this 2026 CMG Gala?

Half an hour to go. There are a few things that already stand out about this year’s Gala — the 44th edition — even before it has begun. Three short observations:

1– Especially AI & Tech-focused

The Gala has traditionally been a blend of culture, commerce, and politics, with Party-state ideology woven into popular entertainment, from aesthetics to messaging, including through skits. Over the past decade, the Gala has increasingly focused on showcasing China’s technological power. I often think back to that iconic 2016 performance featuring 540 dancing robots, which helped set the stage for the Gala as an annual showcase of robotics and other state-backed media technology.

This year, with China’s AI stronger than ever and ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 among the major talking points, we will likely see technology everywhere. There will be AI-generated imagery responding to stage elements in real time, hyper-realistic digital humans, and more.

Robots are also still very present. The Gala reportedly features its largest robot lineup to date, including dancing humanoid robots from Unitree Robotics (宇树科技) and other companies. Some martial arts segments are also expected to feature robot participation.

2– Foreign-focused

Following the Year of the Snake (2025) — when China became “cool” (see my piece on Becoming Chinese) — this soft-power effect is being fully embraced by Chinese state media. The Gala is now promoted internationally, including on YouTube, with messaging such as: “This is where it gets cool, this is where the future meets timeless Eastern aesthetics. This is where we feel warmth, where everyone belongs. When the CMG Spring Festival Gala begins, you are coming home.”

This outward-facing promotion also aligns with the Spring Festival being added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in late 2024. Beijing is increasingly positioning the event as a global celebration rather than only a national one.

The participation of Lionel Richie is particularly noteworthy. Together with John Legend, Jackie Chan, and others, he will perform in what is expected to be the most international segment of the night, highlighting China’s global cultural appeal. The performance will be staged from Yiwu, China’s wholesale capital, which produces an estimated 60–80% of the world’s Christmas decorations, among many other goods.

Other international performers appearing tonight include John Legend, Hélène Rollès, Westlife, the Hungarian National Folk Ensemble, Spanish dancer Jesús Carmona, and Austrian acrobatic troupe Jonglissimo.

3 – Taiwan

Lastly, Taiwan-related performances will inevitably carry political significance, especially given current cross-strait tensions. There is a strong sense of cultural nostalgia in the programme, emphasizing connection and shared heritage. For example, in the song “Treasure Island Love Song” (宝岛恋歌), with “Treasure Island” being an affectionate term for Taiwan may become the clearest expression of this theme. Will let you know when it comes up!

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 20:02

Instant Magic

Ok, we’re kicking off with instant magic. That’s the name of this opening song in English, but its Chinese name is 马上有奇迹, which means “there will immediately be a miracle”, but since “immediately” also means “on horseback” there’s a double meaning (“On the horse, there are miracles.”) There are a lot of word jokes this Year of the Horse, and they’re all meant to be both funny and lucky at the same time.

A little more context for tonight’s show: it is clearly horse-themed as we welcome the Year of the Horse, and carries the title “Galloping Steeds, Unstoppable Momentum” (骐骥驰骋 势不可挡). The title itself feels meaningful. In previous years, themes were often more closely tied to tradition, family, fulfilling dreams, and cherishing reunion, while the emphasis on speed this year seems to signal China’s rapid rise and growing global influence — at least, that’s how I read the idea of “unstoppable momentum.”

The show is directed by Yu Lei (于蕾), who has long been associated with the Gala and is now directing it for a fourth consecutive year, that’s a first in the Gala’s 44-year history.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 20:08

Different venues

We’re now seeing a showcase of all the different venues participating tonight. The main show is broadcast from Beijing, but there are always multiple venues outside of Beijing. This year:

• Harbin (ice-themed stage)
• Yiwu (Global Digital Trade Center, international performers)
• Hefei
• Yibin (“First City on the Yangtze” skyline)

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 20:10

Start of Spring

We’re watching the “Start of Spring”: the gala’s first major song-and-dance stage, featuring an all-female ensemble with AR technology enhancing the theme of the start of the Chinese New Year.

The performers come from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, combining some more famous older faces with newer mainland performers.

A little note: this Gala is broadcast on all kinds of channels and platforms, including on BiliBili – which is where the youth is. The Gala has lost a lot of younger viewers, so this is one way to try and reach the audiences who are less used to watching traditional tv. This will be the second year Bilibili and the Chunwan are cooperating for the live broadcast, also allowing for “bullet comments” that appear in the screen.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 20:18

Grandma’s Favorite

This is the first comedy sketch of the night, featuring Cai Ming (蔡明), the beloved 64-year-old comedy veteran.

This sketch is much-awaited! Not only because of Cai Ming herself, but also because of the theme. In 1996, the famous actress also did a sketch featuring a robot (机器人趣话)- or actually, it was she herself who played a robot wife.

Now, after 30 years, she again returned, and this time not just meeting robots in the new AI era, there is also another robot version of herself.

The robots are by the Beijing-based humanoid robotics startup Songyan Power (松延动力/Noetix Robotics), and in this sketch, they are portrayed as taking care of the elderly – washing her clothes and doing other chores, while also keeping her company – because her own grandchild won’t visit her.

The sketch is a comedy one, obviously, but (as every year), there are always young people on social media who struggle to find it particularly funny.

Regardless, the sketch touches upon some important social issues in a rapidly aging China, perhaps seeing a future where more elderly will use tech and AI.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 20:29

武BOT — Martial Arts Robots

Quite amazing, this performance featuring robots by the Hangzhou-based humanoid robotics company Unitree Technology (宇树科技) doing actual martial arts together with students from the Henan Tagou Martial Arts School.

Turning this into a robot vs human battle, it’s really quite Bruce Lee goes 2026, and an excellent showcase for Unitree Tech and China’s AI robot development at large.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 20:34

Made in China

Made in China, created in China – a song is about futuristic made-in-China inventions that are now in people’s daily lives.

The English name of this song is “Smart Creation of the Future” (智造未来), featuring many popular male singers: Jordan Chan/Chen Xiaochun (陈小春), Jerry Yan/Yan Chengxu (言承旭), Luo Jiahao (罗嘉豪), Jackson Yee/Yi Yangqianxi (易烊千玺), performing together wih Magic Atom (魔法原子, another Chinese robotics company. (One of the four companies, if I’m correct, that is participating in this year’s Gala).

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🕒 Feb 16, 20:38

Celebrating the Flower Goddess

Lovely segment featuring many special technologies and showing that Chinese traditional culture and modern technologies can blend together. This is in line with show elements that we’ve seen over the past few years, especially in the Gala’s directed by Yu Lei.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 20:44

Dazzle and Move

This segment, featuring Aaron Kwok/Guo Fucheng (郭富城, born 1965) and Wang Yibo (王一博, born 1997), has been among some of the songs that have been highly anticipated online, mostly due to the millions of fans these super popular singers/popstars have among both older and younger audiences.

Wang Yibo’s outfit (a Saiid Kobeisy 2026 spring/summer couture feather-embroidered jacket) leaked hours before broadcast and immediately went viral. Netizens are framing it as a “passing of the torch” moment between two generations of Chinese stage performers.

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🕒 Feb 16, 20:49

Once a viral word hits the Gala, it’s officially “washed”

The gala always features internet hit words and slang that people have forgotten about throughout the year. But because they use the slang awkwardly, according to many young viewers, it gives off the impression of a traditional show trying too hard to fit into to online life.

One meme posted shows the ““The Life Cycle of an Internet Meme/Slang””: a new meme appears, it’s fresh and funny, then it suddenly goes viral, and then when your co-workers and parents start using it, it’s basically dead.

However, when it then finally appears in the Gala, it’s officially over, and the meme is “washed.”

Some netizens are counting the number of “slang words” used by the Gala that can now (tongue-in-cheek) be removed from the popular online lexicon.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 20:55

Whose Dish?

We’ve arrived at the stand-up segment, which is interesting — traditionally, xiangsheng (相声) acts on the Gala tend to come from the north, while these two performers have a strong southern (Hunan) accent.

The Gala’s comedy shows have long been criticized for being too northern China–centric, with many viewers in the south, especially in Cantonese-speaking regions, feeling less connected to them. This shift may reflect an effort to strike a better balance between northern and southern comedy traditions.

By the way, the performers are Xu Haolun (徐浩伦) and Tan Xiangwen (谭湘文).

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 21:18

Sorry for some tech problems > Back now

Back online! Had some tech problems, so missed the last performance, but we’re back. Watching “Lucky Steed” (吉量), featuring singer Zhou Shen (周深). The kids come from Guizhou, doing a fashion show featuring their local traditional costumes.

They’re part of the ‘Village T-stage’ (村T) of Southeast Guizhou, which is a grassroots fashion troupe. You could spot traditional attire of the Miao, Dong, Buyi, Sui, and Yao peoples. The Gala has always placed a heavy focus on ethnic and regional representation (emphasizing national unity and ethnic solidarity), and there will be more songs later on showing this.

What did we miss?

1. There was one segment shown from Yibin (宜宾) one of the four venues besides Beijing for the 2026 Gala, chosen to showcase Sichuan’s cultural identity. Here, you could also spot Li Ziqi, the influencer who had great success in popularizing Chinese traditional culture abroad.
2. The other spectacular dance afterward featured the Xinjiang Arts Theater Song and Dance Troupe, transporting viewers onto the ancient Silk Road through Dunhuang-inspired visual design. More about that later.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 21:28

“You’ll Like This for Sure”

After a song about the “Autumn Harvest” (来晒秋) featuring the massively popular Phoenix Legend pop duo together with the Ningxia Zhongning County Farmer Choir, we’re now arriving at the “comedy short drama.”

This is called “You’ll like this for sure” (喜剧短剧).

Interestingly, you see that the Spring Gala is choosing to cast faces from different talent pools, and many more are coming from China’s short drama industry. This is a gradual shift, where the directors are really aiming at younger audiences, mixing the older faces with young talent.

This whole sketch is about the addictive attraction of algorithm-driven content feeds on Chinese platforms like Douyin or Kuaishou. And although a lot of it is meant to be funny, there’s always a more serious undertone. In this case, reflecting on a generation of netizens who can’t even have dinner without watching short videos. This sketch seems to be quite well-received.

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🕒 Feb 16, 21:32

Human Resonance — Li Jian

This song was released a few days before the Gala.

This song also marks Li Jian’s first return to Chunwan for the first time in 13 years, something many fans seemed happy about.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 21:40

The Yiwu Stage

The Yiwu stage – pay attention! This segment fetures Lionel Richie next to Jackie Chan, which is a very deliberate meeting of the stars, a meeting of East-West kind of narrative.

Why Yiwu? Yiwu is practically a factory of the world, and aso called China’s most cosmopolitan small city, since it’s a place where people from all over the world come together – you can hear Arabic, Spanish, and Uyghur on the same street.

Well here’s Lionel! Singing “We are the World” with Jackie Chan. I somehow envisioned him to be THERE in Yiwu, but it’s a studio recording and does not appear to be live, which, I’ll admit is a bit of a disappointment.

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🕒 Feb 16, 21:46

Galloping Sea-Bay Horse

This is a song by Wurina and Aruna together with grassland performance group Wulanmuqi.

Here we see the beautiful AI-generated horses in the background, which I had been reading about before the Gala.

Apparently, the horses sometimes galloped too quickly or too slowly, so it was a challenge to integrate the AI visuals with what was happening on stage.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 22:03

Too much tech?

After a VERY high-energy song about “Fortune at your fingertips” (手到福来), featuring Hong Kong film legend Tony Leung Ka-fai (梁家辉) and mainland actress Liu Tao (刘涛), we’ve arrived at the next comedy sketch.

Meanwhile, online, there are people complaining about the lack of funny jokes in the show (it’s a complaint every year) and the abundance of robots. Some even suggest that many of the songs sound like they were written by AI.

Noteworthy is not just how much AI & robots appear in this show, but the sponsors of the Gala are also overwhelmingly from the tech environment. Out of nine announced sponsors, only two were traditional liquor brands.

The companies behind the robots reportedly invested around 100 million yuan (14 million usd) to get their robots on stage. This is the first time we’re not just seeing dancing robots, they’re also in the martial arts sketches, and even in the comedy skits. For many, it’s just too much. Another problem: they lack comical skills.

Another unexpected effect of this robotization of the Gala is that while many viewers are usually watching to see if any of the singers or actors make mistakes, they’re now waiting for a robot to do something wrong.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 22:14

Tears for Mum

The “jellyfish dance” with the beautiful colors is called “Joyful Rain” (喜雨) featuring lead dancer Meng Qingyang (孟庆旸) together with the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music – these are the kinds of dances Miranda and I always love the most,

The song with the tearful audiences is called “Mom Has a Cinema” (妈妈有座电), and was made with guidance of the famous Zhang Yimou.The singer was Deng Chao (邓超), and I’m not sure if the lady on stage was their actual mother. Correction: it’s the actress Chi Peng (迟蓬).

The song showed the milestones of a child’s growth and the unbreakable connection between mother and child.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 22:22

Faye Wong and Taiwan Nostalgia

Here we have arrived at Faye Wong’s performance, which was one of the songs that people looked forward to the most, mainly just because she is such a beloved singer. It’s titled “The Moment We Experienced Together” (你我经历的一刻)

Before Faye Wong: the song “Treasure Island Love Song”, the song invoking the most Taiwan Nostalgia of the night, although there was less political visual messaging than I expected.

This performance also included the Taipei-born Ouyang Nana, alongside a stacked cast of Taiwan-born artists.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 22:31

Meanwhile on Douyin & Bilibili

The platform Bilibili just posted about the most frequently sent bullet comment (danmu) during their Spring Festival Gala livestream. It is not “great”, “wonderful”, or “spectacular,” but: “Ah?” / “Huh?” The peak moment was apparently during one of the sketches, leaving viewers a bit confused rather than humored, apparently.

Also, meanwhile, some netizens are noting that Douyin users are complaining that criticising the Gala is apparently not allowed on the platform. On On Weibo, criticism of the Gala seems to have already been restricted for several years.

This censorship and control of the narrative surrounding the Gala makes it extra noteworthy that Bilbili has opened up its on-screen commenting for the Gala – although it does take some time for the comments to show up on screen (they are filtered, as well).

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 22:50

From Harbin to “Let Me Be Young Again”

Harbin is one of the sub-venues this year, and in its Gala segment, the city was portrayed as a cold place with an unexpectedly warm heart. It has become very popular in recent years during the Spring Festival travel season for its snow attractions and famously friendly locals. (Unfortunately, it’s also been quite literally warm — just this weekend, an 18-meter-high snowman had to be demolished after temperatures rose above 0°C, creating the risk that the entire sculpture might collapse.)

The mother-and-child duet featured a song from the 2024 feminist film Her Story (好东西), which is noteworthy. The film faced considerable backlash from some men online, and the actors were subjected to waves of slander. Its inclusion in the Gala feels meaningful.

“Let Me Be Young Again” (许我再少年), performed by Wei Chen (魏晨) and Liu Yuning (刘宇宁), is a Gala-commissioned original song, meaning it was written specifically for the 2026 Spring Festival Gala and kept fully unreleased before the broadcast. Its placement is deliberate. Appearing in the later segment of the program, close to 11 PM, the song is an hour before midnight in the “emo-core” of the Gala, a moment typically reserved for more reflective and sentimental songs.

Following this song is the Gala’s annual xiqu (戏曲, traditional Chinese opera) showcase segment. According to reports released before the show, the segment brings together excerpts from multiple major regional opera forms, specifically Jingju/Beijing opera (京剧), Pingju (评剧), Yueju/Shaoxing opera (越剧), Yueju/Cantonese opera (粤剧), and Yuju/Henan opera (豫剧), fused into 1 single creative medley.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 22:54

We just noticed..

Those who have followed the Gala for many years may recall that performers from Taiwan, Macau, or Hong Kong were typically always introduced with on-screen credits noting where they were from. It is unclear whether this is the first year that practice has been dropped, but it appears to have changed and they no longer do that. The shift may reflect a subtle move in emphasis from highlighting “two systems” toward a stronger focus on the idea of “one China.”

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 23:03

A little joke when watching the magic segment. This post said, “When you show your tongue piercing to your relatives.”

Another general sentiment was also that the magic tricks were more funny that the skits, which were meant to be comical.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 23:11

The night is suddenly going so fast! We’ve seen a so-called “micro-musical”, titled “Every Ray of Light” (每道光), which is meant as a tribute to all the workers. That’s why you saw delivery guys, factory workers – many of them actually also really doing these jobs and thus mixing the celebrities with the real-life workers.

The song afterwards (小家年年) mixed some elements of singing art from Suzhou with pop song format.

The short movie or “micro movie” was introduced a few years back as a recurring part of the Gala. This one, titled “My Most Unforgettable Tonight”, features China’s most famous comic duo Shen Teng (沈腾) and Ma Li (马丽). In the “behind-the-scenes” movie, they’re joined by robots from Galaxy Universal, one of the four major companies sponsoring the Gala this year.

🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 23:17

How serious is criticizing the Gala, really?

Since we’re seeing quite a lot of people criticizing the Gala, often in soft ways, it raises the question of how restricted criticism really is. As is often the case with China’s online dynamics, it’s not entirely black and white. Still, posting a strongly critical video on Douyin does not seem very feasible this year. Even a video by well-known Chinese comedy star Papi Jiang, posted before the Gala, was taken down. In a humorous tone, she had made some predictions about how the Gala might feel less creative or a bit cringe this year. Apparently, that was a step too far. (Link to video: https://youtu.be/zF9R5ry-gVY?si=ub7UFKA4ax21eRUV)

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 23:26

Poking fun at lazy local authorities

The sketch “Here Again” (又来了) is described as rather “brave” by some viewers. It pokes at local authorities doing fake “field visits” yet not solving any substantial issues for the people.

This strikes a chord with people who can recognize this as a real issue of different departments trying to avoid their own responsibilities, and trying to leave it to others. Some viewers appreciate a sketch like this pointing at real frustrations in society.

🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 23:34

Hefei is in the spotlight

This is the first time for Hefei to be featured as a sub-venue during the Chunwan. As for every city featured in the mega show, it’s an important moment for city marketing.

The venue featured is Luogang Park (骆岗公园), a repurposed former airport transformed into what is described as the world’s largest urban park.

Hefei, capital of Anhui, has a booming drone industry, which is also why you see so many drones in this segment.

At the same time, Anhui is one of China’s most invisible provinces online. Many people don’t know that the University of Science and Technology of China is in Hefei; they all think it’s in Beijing. So a bit more publicity for Hefei definitely can’t hurt.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 23:38

“Bottom of the Dream” (梦底)

We just saw “Bottom of the Dream” (梦底), featuring singer Hai Lai Amu (海来阿木) in his third consecutive Spring Festival Gala appearance. As a result, some commenters joked that he was “treating the Gala like his regular workplace” (把春晚当工位了).

Some people are joking about the dancer in the performance, because she seemed to overshadow the singer.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 23:48

Stamping the Rhythm

We just saw an unlikely combination of performers, which is pretty cool: the Minzu University of China together with the Hungarian National Folk Ensemble and the Jesús Carmona Spanish Dance Company,

Then it’s time for a more childlike and playful song: “Happy Little Horse” (快乐小马).

The next performance is titled “Painting the New Spring” (绘新春) and it’s quite spectacular, featured performers from Austria together with the Henan Provincial Acrobatic Troupe.



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🕒 Updated: Feb 16, 23:56

The only military song of the night

Every Gala usually features one military song (军歌). This is “My Post, My Watch” (战位有我在), the only PLA-dedicated song at the Gala this year. The performers are from the PLA Cultural Arts Center, which was established in April 2018 through the merger of the former August First Film Studio, the PLA Song and Dance Troupe, Drama Troupe, Opera Troupe, and Military Band under the Central Military Commission Political Work Department.

This segment appears to mostly emphasize duty, vigilance, and each soldier’s personal commitment to their post, highlighting different roles across the military.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 17, 0:00

Positive energy

So far, ethnic minorities, farmers, and traditional opera have all been featured as unmissable elements of every Gala night. The song “Searching for Dreams Across Mountains and Seas” (山海寻梦), is described by Chinese media as a tribute to all Chinese people who strive, persevere, and dedicate themselves welcoming a new spring where “hearts find joy and careers find success” (心有所悦、业有所成).

A classic Gala genre of inspirational zhengnengliang (“positive energy”) songs that usually appear just before the finale, which is where we are now!

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🕒 Updated: Feb 17, 0:02

It’s midnight! Happy Year of the Horse!

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🕒 Updated: Feb 17, 0:13

It’s not over yet

As it’s past midnight, we’ve reached the final stretch of the show, though there’s still a bit to go.

After a cheerful song about visiting family (“A Guide to Visiting Relatives,” 串门指南), we now see the beautiful performance “Riding the Wind” (驭风歌) featuring Jason Zhang.

Meanwhile, online criticism of this year’s Gala also seems to be growing. Is it really this year’s show, or is this simply the usual annual debate? Perhaps it’s both, as a common saying goes: “There’s never a worst, only worse than last year,” (中央春晚，没有最烂，只有更烂.) Much of the criticism right now is directed at the heavy use of robots. Among the different sub-venues, Yiwu is also drawing critique for highlighting the city’s commercial/capitalist side while choosing the song “We Are the World” which is meant to emphasize collective goodwill and charity and is one of the most famous charity songs ever made.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 17, 0:18

Guaranteed Satisfaction

This is the final comedy sketch of the night, titled “Guaranteed Satisfaction” (包你满意). (There used to be many more of these, but with greater focus on song, dance, and tech, there is now less room for sketches, which are also often less popular among younger viewers.)

You might notice a format called “three-and-a-half sentences” (三句半), which sometimes appears in sketch comedy and crosstalk (including in the opening lines here). The first three lines are rhythmic or rhymed, while the fourth is only half a sentence — usually a short, punchy, rhyming tag. This is one of the most common opening formats in language-based performances on the Gala, a style that traces its origins to Beijing.

This particular sketch is described as a grassroots comedy centered on everyday consumer disputes, featuring Sha Yi, one of China’s veteran comic actors.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 17, 0:22

The most meme-worthy moment of the night

It seems the Gala moment many people are joking about most is the Cai Ming sketch, in which she plays a little grandma employing robots in her home for all kinds of tasks. Funnily enough, many netizens, tired of being asked when they will finally settle down, have found an unlikely hero in Cai Ming, sharing:

“My parents: If you don’t have children in the future, who will take care of you when you’re old?”

“Me:”

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🕒 Updated: Feb 17, 0:40

Brother Legend

Unlike Lionel, John Legend is present at the Gala itself. In Chinese, he is called 传奇哥: “Brother Legend.” This “Love Medley” also features Hélène Rollès (France) and Westlife (Ireland).

Westlife the band is still very popular in China. In 2024 they even allowed a Chinese AI platform to use their voices for singing.

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🕒 Updated: Feb 17, 0:43

“Chasing Shadows” (追影)

Still want to briefly return to the act we saw before the street dance number “Sounds of Spring” (新春之声), which is “Chasing Shadows” (追影).

A truly beautiful piece, led by dancer Zhang Han (张翰) from Hubei. Zhang is best known for his role as the male lead Xi Meng in the dance-drama “Only This Green” (只此青绿), inspired by the Song dynasty painting A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains (千里江山图). The production was adapted into a film in 2024 starring Zhang.

The 2022 Gala actually also included a dance that was inspired by the painting which was stunning.

The other song that followed, Gongxi Facai (恭喜发财), can be seen as the Chinese New Year version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You”: every New Year season, it’s the song you hear everywhere, from the streets to the supermarkets, and it has become a meme in much the same way.

Meanwhile, there have also been some online comparisons between the robot shows in 2025 versus 2026, showing just how fast development is going. At this speed, wonder what the Gala will look like in 2027 and beyond!

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🕒 Updated: Feb 17, 0:45

A different “Unforgettable Tonight”

Legendary singer Li Guyi (李谷一), who first performed “Unforgettable Tonight” (难忘今宵) in 1984 as the Gala’s signature closing song, has confirmed she will miss the show again due to health issues, marking her fourth consecutive absence since 2023.

Instead, we are seeing a different kind of “Unforgettable Tonight” (难忘今宵). The Gala appears to be shaping a new closing tradition without Li Guyi, this time featuring children and performers with disabilities, incorporating sign language and creating a more inclusive, human ending to an otherwise highly “robotic” show.

Performers include the Beijing Philharmonic Choir (北京爱乐合唱团), the Galaxy Youth TV Art Troupe (银河少年电视艺术团), and the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe (中国残疾人艺术团).

Thank you for reading along, and I wish you a very happy and healthy Year of the Horse!

If you appreciate what we do and would like to receive the next newsletter on the latest Spring Festival trends, please don’t forget to subscribe. Signing off now, and thanks to Miranda and Ruixin for staying glued to the screen with me tonight. Until next time!

PREMIUM NEWSLETTER | ISSUE #24

This week’s newsletter:
◼︎ 1. Editor’s Note – Stealing the show
◼︎ 2. What’s Been Trending – A closer look at the featured stories
◼︎ 3. What More to Know – Five bit-sized trends
◼︎ 4. What’s the Drama – Top TV to watch
◼︎ 5. What Lies Behind – Celebrations and frustrations
◼︎ 6. What’s Noteworthy – Fu Yuanhui’s plea for help
◼︎ 7. What’s Popular – Multi-talented Jia Ling’s peak in popularity
◼︎ 8. What’s Memorable – The micro-film of the Spring Festival
◼︎ 9. Weibo Word of the Week – “Chunshan Studies”

 

Dear Reader,

 

It has been several years since I officially paused my PhD studies to dedicate my full attention to What’s on Weibo. My research focus during my studies was centered on the representation of the Second Sino-Japanese War in Chinese and Japanese popular culture, a topic I still find fascinating and relevant. However, one problem I encountered while doing my PhD was the constant allure of equally fascinating trends or topics to explore. The Spring Festival Gala is one such topic that always ranked high on my ‘PhD research wishlist.’

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the Gala by now, but just to recap: the CMG Spring Festival Gala, formerly known as the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, is the state media’s annual live television event broadcasted on the evening of Chinese New Year since 1983. It’s one of the most-watched variety shows globally, attracting an average of 700 million viewers. Over 679 million people tuned in to the live broadcast this year (by comparison, the latest Super Bowl had a viewership of 123 million). The Gala features various acts, including singing, dancing, and comedy, spanning approximately 4 hours.

The Gala holds immense significance for all involved parties, from production teams to performers and sponsors. It’s a convergence of culture and commerce, where the Party meets pop culture. CMG (China Media Group), under the direct control of the Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party, utilizes the show to communicate official ideology, promote traditional culture, and showcase top national performers. Despite its commercial aspect, the Gala always remains highly political, blending official propaganda with entertainment. Over the years, it has also become a platform to showcase China’s innovative digital technologies.

Given its importance, it’s not surprising that every second of the show is closely examined, analyzed, scrutinized by an audience of millions. This also results in a new controversy surrounding the show virtually every year, whether it’s about a performance that is deemed racist or about jokes that are believed to be sexist, about who appeared and who did not come up, about magic tricks going wrong or an audience member caught on camera while picking their nose.

The controversy you need to know about this year concerns Chinese actor Bai Jingting (白敬亭). Together with Wei Chen (魏晨) and Wei Daxun (魏大勋), he performed the song “Going Up Spring Mountain” (上春山). Although the song itself initially wasn’t particularly noteworthy, the performance attracted major attention due to the positioning of the three singers on a tiered platform, representing a mountain, with Bai standing on the highest pedestal. After Bai sang his part of the song, it seemed like he was supposed to step down but he didn’t, so Wei Daxun sang from a lower step afterward. It was rumored that Bai Jingting may have intentionally vied for a more prominent position to attract more attention on stage, resulting in choreographic asymmetry and some apparent confusion among the performers.

Adding fuel to these rumors is the fact that Bai was the only performer wearing all black, while the other two wore white. After rehearsal videos of the performance were posted online, netizens noticed that in one video Bai initially stepped down after singing his part, and that he also wore white in another. This led to claims that Bai purposely changed his outfit last-minute to black, so that he could ‘steal the show’ while occupying the center position. It would also make it impossible for producers to switch to a rehearsed version of the song. (Although it’s a live show, every year’s Gala has a taped version of the full dress rehearsal that runs together with the live broadcast, so that in the event of a problem or disruption, the producers can seamlessly switch to the taped version without TV audiences noticing anything. A change in position or attire would make this impossible.)

While these are all mere rumors, they triggered widespread criticism of Bai, trending throughout the week. People accused him of having a bad character and wanting to steal the limelight, it even sparked the new term ‘Chunshan Studies’ (see our Weibo Word of the Week) and the video of “Going Up Spring Mountain” (上春山) became the Gala most replayed performance. The title ““Going Up Spring Mountain” took on an entirely different meaning and was even trademarked by a company in Shenzhen. It sparked memes, jokes, and led to people mimicking the song or editing images of the performance.

CCTV made it clear in a popular Weibo hashtag that “Every move in the Spring Festival Gala is carefully designed and precisely presented” (#春晚每一个走位都精心设计并被准确呈现#), suggesting Bai followed directorial instructions and never sought the limelight. It’s quite ironic that while the Gala usually wants to pretend that there is still some spontaneity involved, it now had to stress how there actually is none whatsoever to protect Bai’s reputation.

Also ironic is that while the entire discussion revolved around whether or not Bai was stealing the show, the song “Going Up Spring Mountain” actually did steal the spotlight and became the most-discussed act of the night. This year’s controversy adds to the Gala’s long list of noteworthy moments, each shedding light on the changing dynamics of China’s evolving media landscape, propaganda efforts, nationalism, gender issues, fan culture, and more. Perhaps it’s time for someone to undertake a PhD on that…

Miranda Barnes and Ruixin Zhang contributed to this Weibo Watch newsletter.

Best,
Manya (@manyapan)

PS Is there a China Studies topic that’s on your ‘wishlist’ too? Or have you come across any new trends or online phenomena that piqued your interest? I’m always eager to learn more about what fascinates you. Don’t hesitate to shoot me a message!

 

What’s Been Trending

A closer look at the featured stories

1: The CMG Gala | The CMG Spring Festival Gala is not just an essential part of Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, it is also the biggest televised media spectacle of the year. Over the entire last week, this four-hour extravaganza featuring forty-six performances has dominated social media conversations. In this article, we reflect on the highs and lows of this year’s edition of the world’s most-watched television program. Read all about it here 👇🏼

Read here 

2: What a Mess | In the summer of 2023, it seemed like Messi’s popularity in China had reached its peak during a friendly match between Argentina and Australia held at Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium when a Chinese fan stormed onto the pitch and embraced Messi. The incident went viral and only garnered more appreciation for the soccer superstar, who extended his arms and reciprocated the hug. Fast forward eight months, and Messi’s reputation in China has plummeted to its lowest point. His highly anticipated appearance in a match in Hong Kong failed to materialize, leaving fans and organizers disappointed. Many suspect political motivations behind his absence, leading to widespread disillusionment among Chinese fans. (Updated with Messi’s response on 2/19).

Read here 

3: Box Office Peak Season | During the Chinese Spring Festival, along with the National Day Holiday, movies tend to earn around 32.3% more on average. Sci-fi and action films are usually the most successful, followed by comedies. Last year, the Spring Festival box office revenues accounted for about 12.3 percent of the yearly total. This year, it was actually all about comedy and animation. Jia Ling’s latest movie was the most anticipated one. Check the big nine Spring Festival movies in our article below.

Read here 

 

What More to Know

Five Bite-Sized Trends

◼︎ 🚙 Long Way Home | Sold-out tickets, overcrowded trains, traffic jams, and aggravated travelers – the Chinese New Year travel season has been a hot topic on Chinese social media recently, sparking various discussions. Over the weekend of February 17-18, terms such as ‘way home’ (返程) and ‘traffic jam’ (堵车) dominated Weibo as the eight-day Spring Festival holiday ended, with millions returning home after leisure travel and family visits. The situation was particularly severe in Hainan, where some endured waits of up to fourteen hours for a ferry, despite local authorities predicting a seven-hour clearance for traffic jams. China Daily reported that the provincial government increased the number of flights and ferries in hopes of avoiding mass congestion, but to no avail. As people nationwide faced difficulties returning home by train, boat, or car, more voices on social media called for amendments to the annual leave and public holiday system, advocating for a more staggered return to work to alleviate nationwide travel congestion (related Weibo hashtag: #海南离岛严重拥堵有人排14小时上船#, 130 million views).

◼︎ 👫 Holding Hand Gate Continued | Remember the 2023 so-called ‘Holding Hand Gate’? Chinese social media exploded after a local SOE official was snapped by a street photographer while taking a stroll with his mistress, a co-worker who had joined him on a Chengdu business trip. The viral video showed the woman elegantly dressed in a fitted pink ensemble, adorned with a $5000 Dior purse, walking hand in hand with the official, who sported a coordinated t-shirt and carried shopping bags. The man, PetroChina executive Hu Jiyong, was fired after his extramarital affair was exposed online. The woman, PetroChina employee Ms. Dong, was also dismissed. Now, the affair has again gone trending after Ms. Dong talked about the aftermath in a February 18 Douyin livestream, calling the commotion surrounding the exposed affair a particularly dark moment in her life, which she got through thanks to the help of her loved ones. However, the livestream was cut off halfway and the account was suspended for “violating the platform’s relevant regulations” (related Weibo hashtag #太古里牵手门女当事人直播间被封#, 270 million views).

◼︎ 🤖 OpenAI’s Sora | Since the American AI research company OpenAI introduced its new video generation model ‘Sora’ on February 16, it has become a big topic of discussion in Chinese media and on Weibo. Though not officially launched yet, demo videos released by Sora show what the new text-to-video model is capable of, allowing users to create very realistic, high-quality and detailed videos. In a recent column, Chinese political commenter Hu Xijin called Sora a “groundbreaking development” while also expressing worries over how these new technologies will impact the future of realistic film and the film industry at large. At the same time, Hu also wondered what the rapid progress of American AI companies means for China and its AI ambitions, calling the introduction of Sora a “warning” that China may be lagging behind when it comes to AI. If you’re interested to read more on this, I recently wrote an op-ed for The Guardian about the US-China race for AI supremacy: link. (Related Weibo hashtag #OpenAI首个视频生成模型Sora有多强大#, 28 million views).

◼︎ 🇷🇺 Navalny’s Death | The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny shocked the world this week. The 47-year-old anti-corruption activist died in a maximum-security prison in Russia’s far north. A day before his death was announced, Navalny appeared in a court hearing, where he cracked jokes about needing money from the judge. In the years leading up to his death, Navalny endured chemical burns and survived poisoning attempts. In a video message, Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, held Putin accountable for her husband’s death. Chinese state media outlets reported Navalny’s death on Weibo, citing Russian statements that he suddenly fell ill after a walk in the prison on Friday, leading to shock and eventual passing. On Weibo, some commenters cynically dubbed his death as “Russia-style modernization,” while others criticized it as “Putin’s way,” labeling Putin as a ‘Czar’ or ‘Emperor.’ There were also remarks suggesting that Navalny’s demise was the foreseeable consequence of Russia’s intolerance toward opposition, and wrote that Navalny himself had opted to return to Russia after being treated in Germany in 2021 (related Weibo hashtag #俄反对派人士纳瓦利内狱中死亡#, 27 million views).

◼︎ 🦒 Giraffes on Weibo| Since I missed one newsletter edition (following the late little rabbit news), I haven’t had the chance to cover the giraffe incident on Weibo yet. Here’s a brief overview: In early February, around the 3rd, Weibo users flooded the US embassy’s account page with complaints about their economic struggles and plummeting stock market worries. The post they were responding to wasn’t related to China’s economy at all; it was about tracking giraffes in Namibia using GPS technology. This seemingly innocent post became a platform for discussing China’s post-pandemic economic issues and also included direct criticism of Chinese leadership. It’s not uncommon for Chinese netizens to use seemingly unrelated hashtags or posts to discuss sensitive topics, hoping to evade censorship. However, the giraffe thread was eventually censored anyway. Despite this, the post still garnered over 20,000 shares and nearly a million likes. Who would’ve thought wildlife conservation could be so popular? 🤡

 

What’s the Drama

Top TV to Watch

The TV drama “Amidst a Snowstorm of Love” (在暴雪时分) currently ranks number one on Weibo and Baidu’s Top TV drama rankings. The romantic drama tells the love story of snooker player Lin Yiyang (林亦扬, played by Wu Lei 吴磊) and nine-ball player Yin Guo (殷果, played by Zhao Jinmai 赵今麦). It is a genuine love story that showcases the chemistry between the two main stars, and the high ratings for the drama show that audiences were craving a straightforward drama that warms hearts on cold days. The drama premiered on February 2 and has since skyrocketed in popularity. The main hashtag on Weibo has received over 4 billion clicks, with 150 million views on February 19 alone.

▶️ This drama is an adaptation of the novel “Amidst a Snowstorm of Love” (在暴雪时分) by Chinese web novelist and screenwriter Mobao Feibao (墨宝非宝).
▶️ Singer Deng Dian (邓典D.D, b. 1999) performed the theme song for this drama, which has also become an online hit.
▶️ To realistically portray his characters, actor Wu Lei underwent snooker and billiards training before filming the drama. He also learned horse riding, archery, badminton, and tennis for other roles, leading some commentators to joke that he’s getting ready to compete in the “Olympics” of China’s entertainment industry.

You can watch Amidst a Snowstorm of Love with English subtitles via Viki here.

 

What Lies Behind

Observations beyond the headlines, by Miranda Barnes

Only a few days into the Chinese New Year, China had already registered over 3.5 billion passenger trips. The Spring Festival travel rush is known as the world’s largest annual migration, predominantly journeys back to hometowns and family reunions. And so, over the past ten days or so, social media was flooded with videos showing family members’ emotional reactions when they are surprised by the homecoming of loved ones. Videos showed tears, laughter, hugs, and gentle scoldings for not giving advance notice of arrivals. Many viewers admitted to being moved to tears by these heartfelt moments while scrolling on their phones. But during the Spring Festival, we gradually saw a shift in people’s posts as they reported from their hometowns, where happy family reunions often turned into dinner dramas.

Returning home after prolonged separation from parents often evokes mixed feelings among Chinese younger people. While they look forward to family gatherings and homemade comfort food, they also worry that their family might find out that the idealized portrayal of their lives over the phone doesnt exactly match the reality. The joy of reunion fades with each passing day.

“It’s my fourth day home and I’ve been offering to do all the dishes to nurture our family bond,” some said, “but now, on day five, an argument has finally broke out.” While the immediate triggers for family disputes may vary, underlying reasons are often similar, as shared by Weibo users. Comments like “All you do is stay glued to your phone,” “You can’t even support yourself with your income; do you know how much money your cousin is making?” and “When are you getting married? You’re embarrassing us,” are commonplace. One commenter lamented, “I’m currently locked up in my room after a disagreement with my family. They all say home is a safe haven, but we all know that returning home during Chinese New Year means stepping into the eye of a storm.”

Amid these challenging times, psychologists offer online tips to foster better understanding of the generation gap and improve communication. Nevertheless, many express the difficulty of engaging in equal and respectful conversations with their parents and elders. As one blogger reflected, “It’s always the same emotional cycle during the Spring Festival: a honeymoon phase to start with, followed by numerous arguments, and sadness upon leaving home in the end.”