China Media Group (CMG) unveiled its much-anticipated 2026 Spring Festival Gala on Monday, showcasing an unprecedented fusion of traditional culture and cutting-edge technologies, and delivering stunning visual experiences to a vast global audience to usher in the Year of the Horse.
The gala's horse-themed centerpiece was a programmable matrix installation featuring eight galloping horses built with over 300 modular groups and 5,584 individually flipping units.
Through precisely choreographed flipping combined with dynamic lighting effects, the horse motif installation generated various patterns and colorful reflections.
Jiang Yuhao, the gala's visual supervisor, explained the technical complexity behind the effect in CMG's Studio No. 1, where the gala was broadcast.
"The image of thousands of galloping horses is achieved through the synchronized flipping of digital modules, created by a combination of programmed choreography and layered lighting rendering. Based on these modules, we have enhanced the visual presentation through augmented reality (AR) virtual technology, realizing the convergence of visual technology and art. We need to open up the space of Studio No. 1, transforming it into a boundless sea of stars or a harvest field. This spatial expansion allows the live audience and viewers at home to experience the studio's ever-changing nature, achieving a fusion of physical stage and virtual technical stage," said Jiang.
The hyper-realistic digital human technology was integrated into this year's gala for the first time, enabling resonance between digital figures and live performers. Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) spatial expansion techniques were also employed to generate landscapes in changing seasons, creating visual experiences.
Guo Li, the gala's director of visual presentation, highlighted the experimental nature of one segment titled "He Huashen"or "Ode to the Flower Deities", which brought traditional Chinese aesthetics to life in a fresh and engaging way with AI-generated imagery and live-stage projection technology to portray the changing seasons and express the enduring vitality of nature.
"It is both an experimental and an innovative performance, in which AI (artificial intelligence) establishes a stronger connection with our program. The segment involves not only the artists on stage but also interaction with the audience. For instance, there's a scene where the character Lu You, holding a branch of apricot blossoms, hands it to a child. The moment it reaches the child's hand, the blossoms bloom, and the whole stage blossoms along with it. These moments of strong prop-based interaction, as well as performance-based interaction, are very rich and appear in many places throughout this program," she said.
Traditional acrobatics have also received a high-tech refresh in the gala.
In a spectacular acrobatics performance, Chinese and international performers showcased a range of astonishing moves on stage which included throwing juggling pins to each other and tossing a rapidly spinning diabolo -- also known as the Chinese yo-yo -- meters high into the air while seamlessly and securely catching it.
"It is a very interesting program that combines Chinese and international traditional culture with customs of the Spring Festival. It integrates real-time motion capture and image generation technology, merging acrobatics with visual presentation to achieve the final effect. Through the rapid movement and unpredictability of the juggling pins and diabolo, it sketches out Spring Festival elements, presenting a series of Spring Festival tableaus for the audience," Guo said.
The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb 17, this year, is the most important traditional holiday for the Chinese people, and watching the Spring Festival Gala on television is a cherished part of the celebrations in hundreds of millions of Chinese homes.
CMG Spring Festival Gala blends cutting-edge technologies, traditional culture
