Spring Festival Chinese Opera Gala brings traditional arts on street

The 2025 Spring Festival Chinese Opera Gala at the ancient city of Taiyuan in north China's Shanxi Province features outdoor street performances, aiming to bring the traditional arts closer to common people.

To be aired on Jan 30, the second day of the Spring Festival, the 2025 Opera Gala innovated to bring opera performances outside studios. Backdropped by streets and structures of the ancient Taiyuan City, the 2025 Gala is to create an immersive experience for audiences.

One of the highlights is the performance of Yingge Dance, a national cultural heritage of south China, on the streets of the ancient northern city.

"The Yingge Dance which we perform is a national intangible cultural heritage, with a history of over 400 years. This is the traditional culture we inherited from our ancestors, and we younger generation must carry it forward," said Zheng Siyuan, a Yingge dance performer.

Paralleled with Yingge Dance, multiple operas and folk dramas staged on different streets are to be performed simultaneously, which poses a significant challenge to the directors.

"The connection between streets, the integration of spaces, and the seamless linking of performances pose our greatest challenges. With around 500 professional performers and background actors on-site, coordinating everything is also a significant challenge," said Hai Wei, director of street shows.

Despite the challenges, bringing the Spring Festival Opera Gala outdoors is to bring the traditional art closer to the crowds, and blend the characteristics of different neighborhoods and communities with the performances, introduced director Yu Hongya.

"In recent years, the annual opera gala has been held outdoors instead of in the studio. This time, the shows on different streets feature different styles but all embody the essence and spirit of the traditional opera," said Yu.

Another highlight of this year's gala is that, an increasing number of young performers made their TV debut, with the youngest being just 4 years old. Chinese traditional operas are gaining popularity among younger generations.

"A growing number of children and teenagers started to learn traditional operas in recent years, which offers us more choices to involve even very young kids in all kinds of opera and folk drama performances," said Yu.

Spring Festival Chinese Opera Gala brings traditional arts on street

Spring Festival Chinese Opera Gala brings traditional arts on street

Hong Kong's first astronaut lifted off into space on Sunday, sparking a wave of enthusiasm for space exploration in the special administrative region, while inspiring a new generation to look to the stars.

The Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 23:08 (Beijing Time) on Sunday. The crew members include Lai Ka-ying, the first astronaut and payload specialist from Hong Kong to join a national space mission, whose achievements have motivated many Hong Kong residents.

"I feel so happy and thrilled. This is the first time a Hong Kong astronaut has gone to space, and to see a true Hong Konger, who is also a mother of three, just really touches my heart," said Chow, a local resident.

The successful spaceflight of Lai has especially captivated the younger generation to dream bigger about the future.

"I want to be an astronaut, because I want to discover more things about space," said a young student surnamed Chow.

"I have seen things related to spaceflights of astronauts. I hope when I grow up, I could receive training and go to space myself," said another student surnamed Koo.

To meet public expectations, the Hong Kong Space Museum has updated its space-themed exhibition with the latest development of the Shenzhou-23 mission, extending the display until July 6. Parents are seizing the moment to enrich their children's knowledge.

"At his age, I want him to be exposed to a wide range of information. With all the recent astronaut news, I brought him here specially to see for himself. We will also check out a film about space knowledge at the planetarium. I hope he can get more out of this from an early age," said Cheung, a father.

"We just watched the Shenzhou-23 launch at home with my son last night, and decided to take him to the Space Museum," a mother surnamed Chun shared.

"I saw on TV that so many people were cheering for the launch. When the rocket was launched, fire burst out from its body. I was really happy they succeeded," said Chun's son.

Hong Kong's first astronaut ignites citywide enthusiasm over space exploration