CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

The China Media Group (CMG) on Wednesday unveiled the host line-up for its 2026 Spring Festival Gala, the country's premier television event to be aired on February 16, Chinese New Year's Eve.

Six experienced hosts -- Ren Luyu, Sa Beining, Neghmet Raxman, Long Yang, Ma Fanshu and Liu Xinyue -- will greet global audience at the CMG's headquarters in Beijing, while another eight will join forces from the gala's four sub-venues across China, a tradition that has been followed since 2016 for the arrangement of the annual event.

Yang Fan and Jiang Duo will host the show from Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang in northeast China. Guo Ruotian and He Chuan will be at the sub-venue in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province in east China. Zhu Xun and Bai Yu will join in from Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui in east China. Zhang Tao and Wang Chuhan will appear at the sub-venue in Yibin, Sichuan Province in southwest China.

The Spring Festival Gala, also known as "Chunwan" in Chinese, has been a major cultural symbol for the Chinese New Year celebrations in China since its debut in 1983. On every Chinese New Year's Eve, families and friends across the country gather to enjoy a mixed show of songs, dances, comic sketches, operas and folk arts, among other performances.

The gala is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's most-watched TV program.

2026 is the Year of the Horse, the seventh animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac.

CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has agreed to hold nuclear talks with Iran on Friday in the Gulf state of Oman, according to U.S. news site Axios on Tuesday.

Currently, both sides are still consulting on whether to allow other Arab and Muslim countries in the region to join the discussions in Oman.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed on Tuesday that the Iranian side is discussing the location of the nuclear talks with the U.S..

In another development, Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, told Lebanese media on Monday that Iran could reduce the enrichment of uranium but would not transfer it abroad, reiterating the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.

Shamkhani reaffirmed Iran's consistent position in previous talks that the country "does not seek nuclear weapons, will not seek a nuclear weapon and will never stockpile nuclear weapons, but the other side must pay a price in return for this."

He also mentioned that the quantity of enriched uranium in Iran is currently unclear, as some is buried under rubble [of nuclear facilities following U.S. airstrikes in June 2025], and has not been extracted due to the high risks involved.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that he had instructed his top diplomat to “pursue fair and equitable" negotiations with the U.S.

Nuclear talks between U.S., Iran expected to take place in Oman on Friday: reports