“Spring Blossoms in the East·2025 Dragon TV Spring Festival Gala” will meet with you on Dragon TV at 19:30 on January 29, the first day of the Lunar New Year.
The theme of this evening party is "You are Shanghai!", which will deeply explore the connotation of Shanghai culture and urban aesthetics, and show the glorious chapter of the people's city.
Innovative integration of cultural tourism IP and literary and artistic IP
China Travel is booming in 2024, and Shanghai is also making every effort to build itself into the "first stop" for inbound tourism in China. This year's Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Snake has stepped out of the traditional "stage" and highlighted the distinctive Shanghai cultural and tourism elements of the Oriental series of galas.
Dancers from the Shanghai Ballet will dance gracefully at many Shanghai landmarks, including the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai Postal Museum, Pudong Art Museum, and Suzhou River Cruise, perfectly integrating cultural and tourism IP with literary and artistic IP, and injecting a modern Shanghai flavor into the classic ballet "Swan Lake".
It is worth mentioning that from the "Shanghai Gate" of the Shanghai Postal Museum to the Mirror Hall of the Pudong Art Museum with the concept of "Shanghai Window", the ballet dancers danced flexibly between doors and windows, showing the harmonious beauty of the fusion of Shanghai culture and European classical culture.
Another show that also has distinct urban elements is "Soul of Young Magic City" performed by the Magic City Youth Group. This group of teenagers, with an average age of only 10-12 years old, uses dance to perform martial arts, incorporating characteristics of Wing Chun such as horse stance and boxing into street dance moves, organically integrating traditional martial arts culture with modern dance, and showing the youthful spirit of the Magic City.
Their dance steps also passed by many Shanghai landmarks such as the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Wukang Building. In the "cyber-sense" light and shadow, Shanghai's embrace of technology and the future was highlighted.
At this evening party, the Shanghai National Orchestra will collaborate with Croatian tourism ambassador and cellist Anna Ruzner to perform the traditional Chinese music "Chinese Colors", which was creatively arranged by the AI composition system and showcases the aesthetics of traditional Chinese colors, opening a feast of innovative fusion of AIGC and folk music.
"Top of the Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Civilization Exhibition" planned by the Shanghai Museum in 2024 has aroused heated discussions among the people. This Spring Festival Gala will invite the "Egyptian Gods" to send special New Year greetings to the audience.
The Year of the Snake is the first Chinese New Year after the successful application of the Chinese New Year for World Heritage status. This evening party also innovatively incorporated many intangible cultural heritage elements. Many intangible cultural heritage inheritors brought their exquisite works to the scene, and while showing the skills of intangible cultural heritage projects, they also sent New Year blessings to the audience. At the same time, the evening party also specially invited the Shanghai Ruixing Charity Team, who interpreted boundless love with their actions. Their stories and spirit vividly interpreted the warm and inclusive humanistic atmosphere of Shanghai, allowing the audience to feel the unique warmth and feelings of Shanghai.
Diverse guests perform the New Year prelude
From powerful singers to cross-border artists, to young idols of Generation Z, the diverse guest lineup will bring a wonderful stage.
Ding Yuxi, the "Shanghai Girl" who was very popular last year, will bring a "nostalgic" stage to his hometown Spring Festival Gala; the Z generation idol TOP Landing boy group will use their singing and dancing to walk among Shanghai's city landmarks, showing the vitality and charm of the younger generation.
Singer Zhou Shen has prepared two songs of different types. The stage design of one of the songs combines Shanghai street scenes, and invites 8 "warm Shanghai characters". Some of them are head nurses assisting Tibet, some are the first female captain of China's ocean-going government ships, and some are middle school teachers who bravely do good deeds. Zhou Shen will work with these ordinary heroes to present a warm and beautiful stage; the other song will combine the element of "magic" to bring the audience a unique visual experience with a surreal sense, which makes people look forward to it!
Singer A Yunga and Yue Opera actress Qiu Danli skillfully combined the classical charm of Yue Opera with the modern rhythm of pop music; Cai Chengyu, known as the "golden tenor", and Huang Ling, known as the "transition singer", will sing a "brainwashing" Spring Festival divine song together; the well-known international pianist Lang Lang will also perform a four-hand piano duet with his wife, young pianist Gina. In addition, Chinese pop bel canto group Vocal Force, Shanghai Rainbow Chamber Choir and other guests will also bring wonderful performances to the audience.
Language programs fully display Shanghai style
In this Spring Festival Gala, the audience will be able to see sketches, skits, short plays and other language works that combine various styles, demonstrating the "Shanghai Spring Festival Gala"'s pursuit of content innovation and youthful expression, as well as keen social observation and reflection.
Li Chuan will join hands with his old partner Zhang Weiwei to present the program "Crazy Live Room", criticizing the "chaos" in the current live streaming industry in the most humorous and exaggerated way;
Chui Nalisa, Aarif Lee, Ma Boqian and Zhang Baiqiao will discuss the topic of "APP anthropomorphism" and humorously explore the "urban diseases" of contemporary young people;
Song Xiaobao, an old friend of Dragon TV, teamed up with short drama queen Li Muchen, actors Wen Song, Liu Meiyu and Wang Yiting to make a fun adaptation of the traditional story "The Legend of the White Snake", satirizing the malpractices in the short drama industry;
Song Muzi, He Wenjun, Li Fei, Wang Ziao, Lu Tingyu, Bai Keli, and Yu Youkuang will integrate the classic IP "Journey to the West" into modern workplace stories, giving new contemporary meaning to tradition.
Shanghai is the birthplace of Chinese cinema, and Shanghainese films and TV dramas are an important carrier of Shanghainese culture. This year's Spring Festival Gala will welcome many Shanghai artists from classic Shanghainese films "Stock Madness" and "Love Mythology" as well as the upcoming film "Vegetable and Meat Wontons".
The appearance of actors such as Pan Hong, Wang Rugang, Zhou Yemang, Mao Shanyu, Chen Guoqing, and Wang Lin made many Shanghai audiences feel like they were back in their childhood. At the same time, the young generation of Shanghainese actors Xu Xiang and Maya also appeared on the stage, making people realize that Shanghainese film and television are constantly developing in the process of inheritance.
The evening party also invited "table tennis veteran" Ni Xia Lian. This was her first time to appear on the Spring Festival Gala stage in her hometown, bringing a surprise performance to the Dragon TV audience.
In addition, there will be Shanghai-style skits set in the old alleys of Shanghai at this evening party. Huang Yi, Li Chuanying, Zhang Yu, Xie Chengze, Mou Zi and others will bring the audience an alley story full of memories and emotions, showing a vivid picture of Shanghai's changing times, allowing people to find resonance in it.
Before the show officially starts at 19:30 on the same day, Dragon TV will also launch a special program called "Spring Festival Gala Countdown". Hosts He Qing, Bai Keli, Yu Youkuang and Yang Qian will be waiting in the main studio throughout the show, and together with host Liu Ye and a special exploration team from the Spring Festival Gala backstage studio, they will directly watch the rehearsal dynamics of the celebrity guests and dig out the surprises behind the scenes. At the same time, there will be many Spring Festival Gala guests on site, who will sing the warmth of Shanghai, dance the elegance of Shanghai, stir up the city's memories with medleys, and add to the flavor of the New Year with jokes.