Part 2 of CMG Mid-Autumn Festival Gala offers blend of tradition, modernity

The second part of the China Media Group (CMG)'s 2024 Mid-Autumn Festival Gala aired at the prime viewing time on Tuesday night offers a stunning blend of tradition, modernity and heartfelt emotion, with more than 10 captivating performances.

The annual gala broadcast, also known as "Qiuwan" in Chinese, was recorded in Shenyang City of northeast China's Liaoning Province, a 2,300-year-old city boasting three world cultural heritage sites and over 1,500 historical and cultural sites. The city is also one of the most well-known industrial cities in China.

Themed "Moonlight", the second part of the show is infused with traditional Chinese culture and the local characteristics and charm of Shenyang, such as shadow puppetry and errenzhuan -- a folksy two-person stand-up comedy form native to northeast China.

Among the second part's highlights, pop star Li Yuchun performs a duet with a child, in tribute to the nurturing and love of mothers. Singer Tan Weiwei, alongside Olympic champions Wu Dajing and Deng Yawen delivers a wonderful performance dedicated to all those who chase their dreams.

Meanwhile, Hungarian pianist Balazs Havasi joins Chinese performers for a stirring musical performance, sharing a message of warmth and romance with the audience around the world.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar, is a festival in honor of the moon and harvest, as well as an occasion for family and friend reunions to eat the traditional festive pastry of mooncakes and appreciate the moon. This year, the festival fell on Tuesday (Sept 17).

Part 2 of CMG Mid-Autumn Festival Gala offers blend of tradition, modernity

China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).

The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.

Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.

China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship