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
Officials and business leaders form China and Finland on Monday signed new agreements and pledged deeper trade ties in Beijing during Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's ongoing visit to China.
The 6th China-Finland Committee for Innovative Business Cooperation Meeting, a long-standing cooperation mechanism aimed at linking the two countries' companies, capital and innovation, was co-hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
The gathering brought together representatives from the government and business sectors spanning the fields of energy, manufacturing, aviation, healthcare and sustainability.
Orpo, who arrived in the Chinese capital on the previous day, said he hopes his visit will "open doors to Finnish companies" and the meeting was primarily about matchmaking -- connecting policy priorities with real business needs and turning cooperation into concrete projects.
"We have a rather small scale, here we can see the scale, whether it's about the patient numbers, manufacturing services, or equity values," said Juha Yrjanheikki, CEO of Aurealis Therapeutics, a cell and gene therapy platform company.
"More and more of the most innovative solutions, whether it's to do with how we work or how our products work, we see them coming more and more from China," said Jussi Herlin, vice chair of board of directors of Kone Corporation, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry.
"China has always been an important market for us -- for the Finnish companies, because it's a huge market. So if you manage to be successful here with your technology, then you can compete all over the world," said Timo Vuori, vice president of the Confederation of Finnish Industries.
In a speech at the meeting, Orpo said his visit also sends a broader signal of commitment to cooperation, even as global trade faces rising uncertainties.
"Finland and China enjoy stable and long-standing relations. Over these years of collaboration, trade relations between our countries have grown steadily. China has become a very important market for Finnish businesses. To truly flourish, we must together preserve the shared rules-based trade system. It provides the predictability and confidence needed for companies to expand their partnership and pursue sustainable growth," said the prime minister.
In his speech, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao outlined how cooperation between the two sides has translated into concrete outcomes.
"Our bilateral trade topped eight billion U.S. dollars in 2025, with two-way investment stock exceeding 23 billion dollars. During today's meeting, companies from both countries engaged in active exchanges and enthusiastic cooperation, signing over 10 cooperation agreements," said Wang.
China and Finland pedge deeper trade ties at Beijing business meeting during Orpo's Visit
