CMG 2025 Spring Festival Gala gets underway in Beijing

The 2025 Spring Festival Gala, an annual televised celebration hosted by the China Media Group (CMG), got underway at 20:00 Tuesday (Beijing Time), on the eve of the Chinese New Year.

The widely anticipated show features a variety of exciting performances, including singing, dancing, comedy sketches, opera, martial arts and magic tricks.

In addition to the main stage in Beijing, four sub-venues have been set up across the country in Chongqing Municipality, Wuhan City in Hubei Province, Lhasa City in Xizang Autonomous Region, and Wuxi City in Jiangsu Province.

Themed "Year of the Snake, Keep Your Spirit Awake," this year's gala, a blend of traditional culture with modern elements, offers both a vibrant celebration of the past and an exciting glimpse into the future, reinforcing its important role in connecting Chinese people worldwide.

As the first CMG Spring Festival Gala since the festival's inscription on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, the gala has integrated more elements of intangible cultural heritage to create a cultural feast for global audiences.

The gala, also known as "Chunwan", was first broadcast back in 1983 and is seen as a major cultural symbol for the traditional Spring Festival celebrations in China.

Recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's most-watched annual TV program, the hours-long television extravaganza attracts over a billion views every year.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, falls on Jan 29 this year, ushering in the Year of the Snake.

CMG 2025 Spring Festival Gala gets underway in Beijing

CMG 2025 Spring Festival Gala gets underway in Beijing

CMG 2025 Spring Festival Gala gets underway in Beijing

CMG 2025 Spring Festival Gala gets underway in Beijing

CMG 2025 Spring Festival Gala gets underway in Beijing

The 2026 Mobile World Congress (MWC) opened on Monday in Barcelona, Spain, under the theme "The IQ Era", with a focus on intelligent infrastructure, AI connectivity and integration, enterprise-level AI applications, AI ecosystem collaboration, inclusive technology and innovation-driven transformation.

Marking the 20th anniversary of the event's presence in Barcelona, this year's MWC has drawn around 2,900 exhibitors, sponsors and partners.

More than 1,200 speakers are taking part in discussions, with country and regional pavilions and technology-themed exhibition areas representing over 100 countries and regions.

Participants include global mobile network operators, device manufacturers and technology firms.

Amid the bustling exhibition halls, attendees highlighted the pervasive impact of artificial intelligence on both personal routines and professional workflows.

"The topic I think that really impressed is the AI influence because I use it every day," said a visitor.

"AI is, I mean, more and more getting into daily life for everybody. AI is reshaping the way people work. It increases productivity," said another visitor.

Network capabilities centering around AI applications also dominated discussions, where many companies unveiled their visions for 6G technology.

"This new spectrum band will adopt ultra-massive antenna arrays and energy-efficient, lightweight engineering solutions to meet operators' needs, bridging the current 5G era and the coming 6G," said Zhao Dong, vice president of Huawei's wireless networking product line and the company's chief marketing officer.

A China Pavilion has been set up at the congress for the first time, featuring major Chinese companies including China Mobile, China Unicom, Huawei, ZTE, Honor and Xiaomi, showcasing their latest advancements in mobile communications and AI technologies.

Industry insiders believe that the collective appearance of Chinese enterprises is injecting new impetus for competition and cooperation into the global communication industry.

I'm seeing that Chinese company has made a lot of progress and they are competing very well in every technology field, especially in AI. And we've seen a lot of AI platforms, AI generative devices," said Mohamed Ben Amor, secretary-general of the Arab ICT Organization.

MWC 2026 opens in Barcelona, spotlighting 'The IQ Era'