China's Spring Festival web gala blends traditional, modern art

China

China's Spring Festival web gala blends traditional, modern art

2026-02-11 02:07 Last Updated At：20:07

The China Media Group (CMG)'s 2026 Spring Festival Web Gala broadcast on Tuesday night featured a blend of traditional and modern arts, offering the audience a seasonal feast of rich cultural heritage.

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 mixed pop culture and traditional Chinese arts, incorporating artificial intelligence, virtual reality and 3D technology for an enhanced audiovisual experience.

One segment of the show featured traditional Chinese arts such as face changing and Nuo opera alongside modern street dance, with another segment presenting ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting.

A dance performance told the story of "Zhaoling Liujun", the six stone horse reliefs on the Zhao Mausoleum, which have a unique place in Chinese sculptural history because of their realism and exquisite carving techniques.

Watching the annual show has become a tradition in China since its debut in 2011, especially among younger audiences.

The gala was broadcast on the day of the Xiaonian Festival, literally the "Little New Year," which is also known as the Kitchen God Festival, marking the start of the countdown to this year’s Chinese New Year on Feb 17.

This Spring Festival, the most important holiday in China, will usher in the Year of the Horse, the seventh animal in the 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle.

U.S. stocks close lower amid rising yields

U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday as climbing U.S. Treasury yields continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 322.24 points, or 0.65 percent, to 49,363.88. The The Standard and Poor's 500 sank 49.44 points, or 0.67 percent, to 7,353.61, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index shed 220.03 points, or 0.84 percent, to close at 25,870.71.

A primary source of downward pressure came from the fixed-income market. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note climbed back above 4.6 percent, while the 30-year Treasury yield nearly touched 5.2 percent, marking its highest level in nearly 19 years.

The high-yield environment acted as a drag on high-valuation growth sectors, which are particularly sensitive to elevated interest rates. Six of the 11 primary The Standard and Poor's 500 sectors closed in negative territory, with materials and communication services leading the declines by dropping 2.27 percent and 1.58 percent, respectively. In contrast, the healthcare sector gained 1.09 percent and the energy sector advanced 1.03 percent.

Market participants are also focusing on Wednesday's upcoming after-hours earnings release from Nvidia.