CMG unveils 2025 Spring Festival Gala's theme, logo

China Media Group (CMG) on Friday released the official theme and logo for its 2025 Spring Festival Gala, marking the start of the Year of the Snake in the Chinese lunar calendar, coming in late January 2025.

The theme of the 2025 Spring Festival Gala is "Year of the Snake, Keep Your Spirits Awake!", CMG announced.

The Chinese lunar calendar divides time into 60-year-long cycles and represents each year with a combination of Chinese characters representing the 10 celestial stem, or tiangan, and characters representing the 12 terrestrial branches, or dizhi. For this Year of Snake, which roughly fits the year 2025, the characters are "yi si."

So the logo of the gala is inspired by an ancient form of the character "si" from a form of writing known as the oracle bone script. The logo adapts the character into the shape of snake and then symmetrically reversed and combined to form two "si" side by side and mirrored, allowing the logo to form an infinite pattern when repeated.

The symmetrical placement of the characters resembles the traditional Chinese ruyi pattern, which symbolizes good luck and longevity.

A ruyi is a decorative object widely used in China to express the "hope for wishes to come true," reflecting the theme for the first half of the gala's main theme.

The theme for the second half is a fixed expression in the Chinese language that means "the endless cycle of life."

The Spring Festival Gala hosted by CMG has been an essential part of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration since 1983. The gala includes songs, dance, comic sketches, operas and folk arts.

The annual spectacle, known as the most-watched television program in the world, is broadcast on the eve of the Chinese New Year, when families come together to ring in the new lunar year.

The 2025 Spring Festival Gala will air on the Spring Festival Eve, which falls on January 28, 2025.

CMG unveils 2025 Spring Festival Gala's theme, logo

CMG unveils 2025 Spring Festival Gala's theme, logo

CMG unveils 2025 Spring Festival Gala's theme, logo

CMG unveils 2025 Spring Festival Gala's theme, logo

CMG unveils 2025 Spring Festival Gala's theme, logo

A former television host from Taiwan, Zhai Xuan, has made a pivotal decision to leave mainstream broadcasting in order to create content that provides a better understanding of the Chinese mainland and cross-strait relations.

Zhai, a seasoned television host with over a decade of experience in Taiwan's media landscape, recently addressed an audience at an event in Beijing, where she revealed her complete transition into independent online media.

In her remarks, she articulated her aspiration to bridge what she perceives as a significant information gap between audiences on both sides of the Strait, highlighting her commitment to fostering a deeper understanding and connection through her new endeavors.

"I was really surprised by all the fake news. There were stories saying people on the mainland can't afford tea eggs or that they live in mud houses and in Taiwan, this was the main information many people received," said Zhai.

Zhai said she initially began producing online videos to challenge such perceptions while continuing her work as a television host.

In April 2025, she travelled to the mainland with her father to fulfill her late grandfather's wish to return to his hometown. The trip, which reunited family members separated since 1949, was recorded in a video series titled "Journey to Find Our Roots", drawing attention from viewers in both Taiwan and the mainland.

"Many people in Taiwan told me that after watching, they wanted to apply for a mainland travel permit immediately and go looking for their relatives. Some had long forgotten these things, but after seeing my story, they began thinking about their hometowns and family members they had never met and decided to search for their roots," Zhai shared her story at the event.

By mid-2025, Zhai said she began to feel increasing pressure amid rising political tensions and a tightening atmosphere around cross-Strait exchanges in Taiwan.

After more than 12 years in the industry, Zhai resigned from her position, believing it was the right thing to do.

"At that moment, I felt this was a major issue，not just for me, but for Chinese people on both sides of the Strait. If I backed down then, I wouldn’t be standing on the right side," said Zhai.

Since leaving television, Zhai has broadened her online programming to encompass a range of daily-life topics, including practical guidance on applying for a mainland travel permit and using commonly employed mobile applications, in addition to content that delves into historical memory and cultural connections across the Strait.

As the debate over cross-Strait relations continues in Taiwan, Zhai said she remains committed to her current path.

Former Taiwan TV host bridges cross-Strait divide via online media