CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

China

CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

2026-02-04 15:02 Last Updated At：21:17

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.

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CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

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CMG unveils host line-up for 2026 Spring Festival Gala

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.

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan reject Trump's Abraham Accords demand

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have reaffirmed that they will not seek normalization of ties with Israel, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump's call for the two countries to join the Abraham Accords.

Saudi Arabia's position on the Palestinian issue remains unchanged, a Saudi source told Al Arabiya TV on Monday.

The source affirmed the need for "an irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state".

The remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Muslim-majority and regional countries to normalize relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords before the U.S. reaches a peace agreement with Iran.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it would not normalize relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday that Pakistan will not join any agreement to normalize ties with Israel, adding that the country will not accept any deal that "conflicts with its fundamental ideologies".

Trump on Monday urged Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Pakistan -- countries involved in mediating U.S.-Iran talks -- to immediately join the Abraham Accords, warning that otherwise they should not participate in the mediation.

He added that if a U.S.-Iran deal is reached, Iran should also join the agreement.

The Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States in 2020 during Trump's first term, were established between the Israeli government and Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, aimed at rapidly advancing the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab countries.

Before the outbreak of the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in October 2023, the United States had been pushing for normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

After the conflict erupted, Saudi Arabia suspended normalization talks with Israel.