Drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese culture, the design team behind the official mascot "Si Shengsheng" for the 2025 Spring Festival Gala has crafted a character that seamlessly blends captivating charm with profound cultural significance.
In early December of last year, China Media Group (CMG) unveiled the official mascot for its highly anticipated 2025 Spring Festival Gala. The mascot's design, featuring an endearing snake character, was carefully crafted to align with the vibrant theme of the Spring Festival Gala: "Year of the Snake, Keep Your Spirits Awake!
Si Shengsheng made a lasting impression on its debut, captivating audiences with its endearing and chubby appearance, which seamlessly blends traditional Chinese culture with modern and innovative design.
The mascot resembles the Chinese character "si" in the oracle bone script, which stands for snake in the Chinese zodiac.
Gao Peng, dean of the School of Future Design at Beijing Normal University, reminisced that when his team was initially tasked with designing a mascot based on a snake, they were daunted by the prospect, recognizing it as a substantial creative challenge.
"At the very beginning, we thought that the skin of the snake is like the blooming of spring flowers, which brings infinite vitality. Secondly, the snake's winding form resembles 'Ruyi' (a traditional Chinese ornament representing blessings and auspiciousness). Both aimed to soften people's inherent fears of snakes," said Gao.
The design concepts of "Ruyi" and spring flowers received recognition from the director team of the Spring Festival Gala. Subsequently, the design team opted to draw inspiration from traditional Chinese culture.
The outline of the mascot's head and the shape of the patterns on its cheeks are derived from a silver "Ruyi" unearthed at Famen Temple, an influential temple located in northwest China's Shaanxi Province from the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Its head is decorated with a bat pattern and its tail is embellished with a long knot representing longevity in Chinese culture, making the entire mascot represent blessings and good luck.
"The little snake embodies a blend of form and spirit. Its cheeks are inspired by the first cultural relic 'Ruyi' from Famen Temple, while the bat on its head was combined with the head in the form of jade carvings," said Gao.
The mascot features a rounded head and body, adorned with lively smile that conveys happiness and friendliness. One of Si Shengsheng's most captivating attributes is the large and sparkling eyes, inspired by the pattern of snake-shaped bronze cultural relics unearthed from the Sanxingdui Ruins, one of the world's greatest archaeological findings of the 20th century in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
Some of the patterns on the mascot are carved with cloisonne craftsmanship, and the filigree inlay art was also used to sketch out a variety of flowers on the mascot, implying that the spring is back.
According to Gao, green is the main color of the mascot, symbolizing Chinese culture and vitality.
"We wanted to use the green image of spring, and use the classical Chinese color of green to present it," said Gao.
After several discussions and revisions with the director team, the 2025 Spring Festival Gala mascot, "Si Sheng Sheng," was finally unveiled. Gao Peng and his team were excited by the outcome.
"It felt like watching our own children coming out suddenly. But we were also worried, would they truly like it? So we checked social media, analyzed and reflected, hoping to improve next time," said a member from the design team.
The gala, also known as "Chunwan" in Chinese, has been broadcast live annually on the Chinese 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 Spring Festival gala will be the first edition since the Spring Festival's successful inclusion on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
2025 Spring Festival Gala features mascot with deep cultural significance
