China Media Group held the third rehearsal for the 2025 Spring Festival Gala on Friday, with the four sub-venues involved for the first time.
Chongqing Municipality, Wuhan of Hubei Province, Lhasa of Xizang Autonomous Region, and Wuxi of Jiangsu Province have been selected to stage parts of the world's most-watched TV program.
Along with the main venue in Beijing, these locations are expected to stage a vibrant and diverse cultural feast featuring local customs and spectacular achievements in modernization in the new era.
The rehearsal presented singing and dancing, magic, martial arts, and creative fusion performances in an innovative manner and further improved the overall organization of the gala and transitions between the performances.
The Spring Festival falls on Jan 29 this year. It marks the start of the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year and is China's grandest traditional festival when people across the country return to their hometowns for celebrations and family reunion.
The gala, also known as "Chunwan" in Chinese, has been broadcast live annually on the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve since 1983, and has been seen as a major cultural symbol for the traditional Lunar New Year celebrations in China.
The 2025 gala will be the first edition since Spring Festival's successful inclusion on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
CMG holds third rehearsal for 2025 Spring Festival Gala
Iran on Monday publicly rejected a core U.S. demand to cease all uranium enrichment, while projecting a dual-track strategy of guarded diplomatic engagement and reinforced military preparedness.
The moves came as the indirect Iran-US talks in Oman's Muscat last week yielded no breakthrough and regional tensions continued to simmer.
On Monday, Mohammad Eslami, president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said that while Iran could consider diluting its 60-percent enriched uranium, it would only do so if all international sanctions were first lifted.
Eslami also dismissed past proposals to ship the material abroad for safekeeping.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi echoed this line on Monday, reaffirming Tehran's strategy of engaging in talks while refusing to concede on what Iran views as sovereign rights.
Pezeshkian and Araghchi have described the Muscat talks as a "good start" but warned that diplomacy must be based on "respect, not coercion."
In a televised speech on Monday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged Iranians to show unity and "disappoint the enemy" ahead of the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, amid rising tensions with the United States.
Meanwhile, Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, is set to lead a delegation to visit mediator Oman on Tuesday.
Simultaneously, Iran has signaled a shift toward greater military opacity. Iran's state news agency IRNA said in a report on Sunday that the Defense Ministry has halted all public displays of new weaponry "for security reasons and to safeguard the principle of surprise," a move widely interpreted as preparing for potential conflict.
Positions from the United States and Israel have appeared equally firm. A report on Sunday by Israel's Channel 15 said the United States had privately messaged Iran, seeking Iran's "concessions" in the next round of talks, and expecting "serious and meaningful content."
On Monday, The Jerusalem Post, citing Israeli defense officials, reported that Israel has warned the U.S. it "will strike alone" if Iran crosses its "red lines" on ballistic missiles.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Sunday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb 11 in Washington, and will discuss the U.S.-Iran negotiations.
Netanyahu is expected to demand that the U.S. promote the transfer of Iran's enriched uranium out of the country and restrict Iran's ballistic missile capabilities.
Iran rejects zero enrichment, projects dual-track posture amid stalled talks with U.S.
