China's Spring Festival web gala treats audiences to audiovisual feast

The China Media Group (CMG)'s 2026 Spring Festival Web Gala aired Tuesday night across TV, mobile apps and online platforms, blending pop and traditional culture with cutting-edge technologies.

The gala was broadcast on CCTV-1, CCTV-3 and CMG digital platforms from 20:00 Beijing time.

Featuring dances, songs and other performances, this year's show mixes pop culture and traditional Chinese arts, incorporating artificial intelligence, virtual reality and 3D technology for an enhanced audiovisual experience.

In the opening act, a group of famous Chinese singers delivered their heartfelt wishes with songs.

Later, performers with football players from the 13 cities of east China's Jiangsu Province presented an energetic show paying tribute to the popular grassroots Jiangsu Football City League.

A cultural fusion show using AR and AI technology transformed four actresses into agile images of ink brushes, ink sticks, paper and ink stones, gracefully dancing in a three-dimensional digital landscape.

In a special aerospace-themed performance, popular TV hosts sang with a choir of veteran aerospace workers, in homage to China's aerospace achievements.

Watching the annual show has become a tradition in China since its debut in 2011, especially among younger audiences. The gala is usually broadcast on the traditional Xiaonian Festival, literally the "Little New Year," also known as the Kitchen God Festival, which fell on Tuesday this year and marks the start of the countdown to the Chinese New Year.

The Spring Festival, the most important holiday in China, falls on Feb 17 this year, ushering in the Year of the Horse, the seventh animal in the 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle.

China's Spring Festival web gala treats audiences to audiovisual feast

Global food commodity prices climbed for a second consecutive month in March, driven mainly by higher energy costs linked to escalating conflict in the Middle East, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in report released on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of globally traded food commodities, averaged 128.5 points in March, up 2.4 percent from February and 1.0 percent above its level a year ago.

According to the report, the FAO Vegetable Oil Index and Sugar Price Index showed the largest increases, up 5.1 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

The FAO Cereal Price Index increased by 1.5 percent from the previous month, driven primarily by higher world wheat prices, which rose 4.3 percent.

The FAO Meat Price Index rose by 1.0 percent from the previous month, and the FAO All-Rice Price Index declined by 3.0 percent in March, according to the report.

FAO stated that rising energy and fertilizer prices have been driving up agricultural input costs.

If the conflict stretches beyond 40 days, farmers will have to choose to farm the same with fewer inputs, plant less, or switch to less intensive fertilizer crops, according to FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero.

These choices will hit future yields and shape food supply and commodity prices for the rest of this year and beyond, Torero said.

Global food prices rise for 2nd consecutive month in March amid Middle East conflict: FAO