2016 Chinese New Year TV Gala—Truly the best

Every year, CCTV produces a CCTV Spring Festival Gala. This event has become a tradition for Chinese people around the world. It is a evening of spectacular performances with singing, comedy, acrobatics, and more. Besides seeing well-loved actors take the stage, the CCTV Spring Gala also showcases the talents of newcomers who had won competitions to enter the Chinese New Year TV gala. Basically, imagine if “American Idol,” “Dancing with the Stars,” and “The Voice” were swirled together with a generous dash of comedy and holiday festivity to create the Chinese New Year TV Gala.

This Spring Festival Gala is specifically the creation of the CCTV Studio; other Chinese Stations also broadcast their variations for Chinese Year, but the CCTV Spring Festival Gala is the one which garners the most anticipation.

 Chinese New Year is February 8 this year. Chinese New Year falls on the first day of the lunar calendar. Chinese New Year came about centuries of years ago. The story goes that there was a mythical beast named “Nian” who would go out and terrorize villagers. Luckily, one day, someone figured out that “Nian” was afraid of loud noises and the color red. Therefore, the villagers began decorating their houses in red, lighting firecrackers, and making music. Eventually, this day became known as Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year is also called the Spring Festival. For Chinese people around the world, one of the biggest traditions for Chinese New Year is watching the Spring Festival Gala. (I would liken the Spring Festival to our Thanksgiving Day Parade and Christmas movies) CCTV produces one of the most extravagant Spring Festival Galas.

Months of preparation goes into this production as studio technicians use the latest in technology such as 3D holographics to make each year’s show spectacular. The show directors and producers also try to beat last year’s show and make each year’s better than the last one.

 This year’s theme was the monkey since 2016 is the Year of the Monkey. In my opinion, this year’s show certainly included performances that were better than last year’s show. The opening sequence showcased a group of popular Chinese singers among a backdrop of perfectly trained dancers. The Chinese singers wore pastel colors (perhaps keeping in line with Pantone’s 2016 colors of the year) and the elaborate backdrops and dancer’s costumes kept the opening performance from being too bare. Nevertheless, this year’s Gala managed to invoke some nostalgia by incorporating beloved children’s cartoon characters into one number.

Somehow, the technicians of the show this year creatively used a number of 3D effects and animations, but the producers also formatted the show in a realistic way that appealed to the audience members watching on television. Basically, I was very happy to see that there was not an overuse of animation in the show.

 The singing performances were as wonderful as can be imagined. The excitement of watching the show. With it being a evening of feel good performances, it’s not a surprise that the Chinese New Year Gala is one of the most watched shows ever. In fact this year’s show was watched by 900 Billion people, even more than the Superbowl.

So, what amazing performances were on this year? First, I have to acknowledge the fashion. You’ve got elegant ladies dressed in long gown, daring in it’s fashion-forwardness. There’s comedic moments such as in a skit with a young man mistakenly assumed for a prank caller, leading to hilarious results. There’s the awe-inspiring marching and singing of organized rows of well-dressed young military men. That’s right, handsome young soldiers performing on-stage! Can it get any better? The answer is yes!

 Overall, this year’s Gala event was one of the greatest performances because it was not boring or cliche. Traditions of Chinese New Year were seen with the floating red lantern decorations and  monkey theme. The crowning achievement was that the holiday spirit atmosphere was still maintained, yet everything (as expected) was redone with a new, fresh twist. Needless to say, this year was a show to remember and viewers were kept regaled for the ringing in of Chinese New Year.