An advanced humanoid robot put in a cheerful backstage appearance as rehearsals ramp up for the China Media Group (CMG)'s 2026 Spring Festival Gala, bringing some light relief to performers who are busy refining their preparations for the upcoming entertainment extravaganza.
The much-anticipated gala is set to air on the Chinese New Year's Eve on Feb 16, combining traditional Chinese cultural elements with modern stagecraft and high-tech visuals. Featuring a variety of colorful acts and star-studded guest appearances, the hours-long show will run past midnight, ringing in the Year of the Horse.
Commonly known as "Chunwan" in Chinese, the gala has been broadcast live on each Chinese New Year's Eve since 1983, and has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the most-watched annual television program on the planet.
The CMG, the country's flagship broadcaster, conducted the fourth full rehearsal for this year's gala on Feb 8.
And as the final touches were being made, a special little robot friend showed up behind the scenes and gatecrashed some of the activities.
Named Bumi, the highly-flexible humanoid robot stands 94 cm tall and weighs around 12 kg, and features more than 21 degrees of freedom, allowing it to perform complex physical movements.
Amid warm and amusing scenes, the little robot was seen walking around the CMG's gala venue and happily interacting with actors, singers and other guest performers, while delivering New Year's greetings.
Bumi was launched by Chinese tech firm Noetix Robotics last October and is the world's first high-performance humanoid robot to be priced under 10,000 yuan (around 1,400 U.S. dollars). It also integrates smooth voice interaction and zero-threshold graphical programming functions, enabling to be more easily developed and programmed by users.
In late January, the CMG announced that Noetix Robotics would become its official humanoid robot partner for the 2026 Spring Festival Gala.
The Beijing-based start-up was established in 2023 and is committed to the research and development of multiple areas such as general artificial intelligence bodies, bionic robots and embodied operating systems, forming a product matrix including general humanoid robots and bionic robots.
Advanced humanoid robot brings backstage fun to Spring Festival Gala rehearsal
Advanced humanoid robot brings backstage fun to Spring Festival Gala rehearsal
Advanced humanoid robot brings backstage fun to Spring Festival Gala rehearsal
Japan's ongoing push to revise its pacifist constitution and expand military buildup escalate regional tension, warned Japanese lawyer Kyoko Oe, who urged adherence to pacifism and vigilance against the government's dangerous moves.
Since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office last October, the Japanese government has renewed its push to revise the country's pacifist constitution and accelerated a series of military expansion measures, including increasing defense spending, deploying long-range missiles, and easing restrictions on arms exports.
Speaking on the dangerous policy shifts, Oe criticized the Takaichi administration for bypassing public will.
"We believe that when Japanese citizens are not demanding constitutional reform, pushing it forward through a parliamentary majority clearly violates the principle of popular sovereignty and the obligation to respect the constitution. Moreover, the content of the revision itself is extremely dangerous. [The government] is attempting to change pacifist principles of the Japanese constitution -- the most fundamental part -- and abandon basic concepts, including the renunciation of war and not maintaining military forces," said Oe.
The Japanese government has aggressively accelerated war readiness even under the current constitution, said Oe, adding that amending it will grant the Self-Defense Forces even greater freedom of action at the constitutional level.
"If the constitution is amended, the Self-Defense Forces will gain greater freedom of action at the constitutional level than they have now, and legal interpretations will develop in that direction. Even while the current constitution remains effective, the Japanese government has already forcibly advanced war preparations. For example, manufacturing long-range missiles, which were previously considered unacceptable to possess, and deploying them domestically; conducting joint war games and military exercises with the United States; and massively manufacturing and exporting weapons overseas," said Oe.
The lawyer also criticized Takaichi's provocative remarks on China, saying they have sharply strained bilateral ties and undermined peace and stability in the region.
"We believe that due to Takaichi's remarks made last November, China-Japan relations have become very tense and are deteriorating. Legal experts believe that Takaichi's remarks contain multiple obvious errors. Takaichi should frankly retract the relevant remarks and apologize. Only by building mutual trust with neighboring countries can we maintain our peace, and the peace of East Asia and even the peace of Asia. We believe that what the Takaichi administration is doing runs completely counter to what the Japanese people truly wish to achieve," Oe said.
Japan's constitution revision, military buildup fuel regional tensions: lawyer
