Unitree's humanoid robots perform martial arts at Beijing's Temple of Heaven

Humanoid robots developed by China's Unitree Robotics, which stole the show with their eye-catching martial arts and parkour skills at the country's annual CMG Spring Festival Gala a week ago, has given another impressive Chinese Kung Fu performance at the Temple of Heaven, a well-known landmark in Beijing.

In a video released on Monday by Unitree, 50 humanoid robots in red vests assembled in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the main building at the Temple of Heaven, where they demonstrated their Kung Fu moves in perfect synchrony, such as backflipping, cartwheeling, and high-speed kickboxing.

The humanoid robots, along with those from several other Chinese robotics companies, grabbed the limelight during the 2026 CMG Spring Festival Gala, the world's most watched television program, which was broadcast on Feb 16, the eve of the Chinese New Year.

Performing alongside a group of young human actors, the robots executed complex martial arts routines, leapt from trampolines, and climbed walls, stunning viewers who tuned in from around the world.

Like their headline-grabbing performance at the gala, these humanoid robots marked a sharp contrast from what Unitree showcased at last year's gala, which featured less advanced versions of the robots twirling handkerchiefs in a folk dance.

Unitree's humanoid robots perform martial arts at Beijing's Temple of Heaven

China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).

The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.

Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.

China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship