CMG 2026 Spring Festival Gala gets underway in Beijing

China

CMG 2026 Spring Festival Gala gets underway in Beijing

2026-02-16 20:34 Last Updated At：23:57

The 2026 Spring Festival Gala, an annual televised celebration hosted by the China Media Group (CMG), got underway at 20:00 Monday (Beijing Time) on the eve of the Chinese New Year, as families come together to ring in the Year of the Horse at midnight.

The hours-long gala features a carefully curated line-up of performances, including a host of stirring songs and dazzling dances, enchanting operas, comedic sketches, magic shows and a number of creative fusion performances, all of which highlighted the spirit of the new era, capturing the dynamic beauty of China's future.

In addition to the main stage in Beijing, four sub-venues have been set up across the country including Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang in northeast China known as the "ice city," Yiwu in east China's Zhejiang, which has been dubbed "the world's supermarket," Hefei, the provincial capital of the eastern Anhui Province which has emerged as a hub for sci-tech innovation, and Yibin in the southwestern Sichuan Province, known for its ancient architecture and picturesque scenery along the banks of the Yangtze River.

The tradition of taking the gala to new locations each year was first introduced in 2016 and each of the four sub-venues offers their own unique flair, creating an enchanting visual journey across China's varied landscapes and cultural traditions.

The 2026 Chinese New Year sees the arrival of the Year of the Horse, the seventh animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac.

Themed "Galloping Steed, Onward Unstoppable," this year's gala draws on China's traditional culture and heavily incorporates the horse, a symbol of self-improvement and striving forward, into its creative design.

The CMG's artificial intelligence-generated content (AIGC) real-scene special effects technology is making its debut with its first innovative application as part of this year's show, highlighting China's technological advances.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, is the most important traditional holiday for the Chinese people, and watching the Spring Festival Gala, also known as "Chunwan," on is a cherished part of the celebrations in hundreds of millions of Chinese homes.

Since first broadcast in 1983, the gala has been a cherished part of Chinese people's celebration of the Spring Festival. The gala recognized by Guinness World Records as the most-watched annual television program on the planet.

The Spring Festival itself was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2024.

2026 APEC trade ministers' meeting concludes with fruitful results

The 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting concluded in east China's Suzhou on Saturday, yielding fruitful results and laying significant groundwork for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.

The trade ministers' meeting focused on "building an open and predictable regional and multilateral economic and trade order" and "fostering new engines of innovative and dynamic trade and investment cooperation."

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao briefed the media on the meeting's outcomes at a press conference.

Wang said the meeting issued a joint statement titled the Suzhou Statement, and approved the latest edition of the APEC Roadmap for Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Services.

All parties agreed to advance policy innovation and reform in services trade, build an open and predictable investment environment, improve regional trade facilitation and supply chain resilience, strengthen standards coordination, and enhance intellectual property protection, Wang told the media.

He also said that substantial progress was made on a framework document for regional digital trade cooperation and the ministers emphasized promoting inclusive AI development, strengthening AI-related trade, and bridging the digital divide to ensure shared benefits from digital transformation.

The minister noted that the outcomes of the meeting demonstrated strong cooperation willingness, highlighted an innovation-oriented approach, and reflected inclusiveness and shared benefits. "The fact that Asia-Pacific economies can come together, uphold the original aspiration of promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation while supporting economic growth and prosperity, and engage in in-depth discussions on the important issue of 'where multilateral and regional economic and trade cooperation is headed,' fully demonstrates that open regionalism and true multilateralism enjoy broad support, and that mutual success and shared development serve the fundamental interests of all economies," Wang said.