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OneRepublic, Robots, a Rural Icon: The Spring Festival Gala in 3 Acts
From the long-awaited return of internet star Li Ziqi to a humanoid robot dance directed by Zhang Yimou — and even a surprise performance by OneRepublic — this year’s Spring Festival Gala mixed old favorites with high-tech spectacle.
Broadcast since 1983, the Spring Festival Gala — known as chunwan — remains China’s biggest televised event, drawing over a billion viewers each year. Produced by China Media Group, the four-hour variety show blends music, dance, opera, martial arts, and comedy, shaping pop culture and national conversation around the Lunar New Year.
This year’s show drew a record-breaking audience, with over 2.8 billion views on new media platforms — an increase of 690 million from last year — and 496 million live-stream views, up 18% year-on-year.
While past editions have sometimes felt predictable, this year’s gala leaned into spectacle — blending nostalgia with high-tech wizardry and viral internet trends. The mix struck a chord with audiences, earning a warmer reception.
The 2025 gala pushed the boundaries of stage technology, blending physical sets with digital illusions. XR technology transformed ancient Chinese architecture into immersive landscapes, while AI-generated animation brought characters from classic paintings to life. Naked-eye 3D and ultra-high-definition projections created a near-cinematic experience, fusing reality and spectacle.
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Past, present
The 2025 gala incorporated the Spring Festival’s recent recognition as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, spotlighting traditional art forms throughout the night. A segment dedicated to Beijing’s Central Axis, added to the UNESCO World Heritage list last year, used cutting-edge technology to reconstruct its historic architecture on stage.
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Among the night’s most-discussed moments was the return of internet star Li Ziqi, known for her idyllic portrayals of rural life. Once China’s most popular YouTuber, Li vanished from public view in 2021 amid a contract dispute, leaving her tens of millions of fans in limbo. Her reappearance at the Gala triggered a social media frenzy.
She introduced the opening act, “Welcoming Fortune,” featuring performers showcasing Weifang kite-making and Zhijin embroidery — two traditional crafts set against a backdrop of digital effects.
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Another standout was “Borrowing the Umbrella,” a theatrical retelling of “The Legend of the White Snake,” one of China’s most famous folk tales. The skit fused multiple opera styles—Peking, Cantonese, Sichuan, and Yue — into a single performance, reinterpreting the story’s iconic rain-soaked meeting with a wish for lovers to find their happy ending.
Dancing Machines
In one of the Gala’s most talked-about performances, 16 humanoid robots joined human dancers for a synchronized Yangko routine, a traditional folk dance known for its sweeping steps and vibrant handkerchiefs. Directed by Zhang Yimou, the routine saw the robots flawlessly mimic the movements of their human counterparts, waving props with precision.
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The gala also introduced its first accessible broadcast, featuring real-time sign language interpretation, AI-generated captions, and detailed audio descriptions. The initiative, aimed at visually and hearing-impaired audiences, was widely praised on social media.
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World stage
OneRepublic’s surprise performance at this year’s Spring Festival Gala marked a rare English-language set at China’s most-watched TV event. The American band played their hit “Counting Stars,” joining a growing list of international artists featured in the show. Meanwhile, Evan Kyle, an American who donated a World War II photo album to China, was invited as a guest — a moment that quickly sparked discussion online.
The Gala also featured a cross-cultural musical collaboration, with Chinese and Peruvian singers performing “Condor and Lan Huahua,” blending El Condor Pasa, a well-known Peruvian folk song, with Lan Huahua, a traditional Shaanxi ballad.
Editor: Apurva.
(Header image: A GIF shows robots dancing during a performance directed by Zhang Yimou. From @央视频 on Weibo)