What if Chinese Gen-Z Hosted the Spring Festival Gala?

The Lunar New Year is fast approaching, which means that CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s television event of the year, is also on its way. Yet as anticipation builds for the show, Chinese Gen-Z are feeling increasingly left out, and are actively imagining what their participation in the spectacle might look like.

Beyond online chatter surrounding actors’ departures from the planned show, speculation about potential skits, and other rumors, this year there’s a new trend of Gen-Z netizens shooting video skits that reimagine the Spring Festival Gala through creative humor.

Young people are crafting skits envisioning themselves as hosts of the Spring Festival Gala, replacing the seasoned entertainment veterans who usually occupy this role. Through playful scenarios, they gently poke humor at aspects of the gala that they find to be out of touch or stuffy, humorously reshaping the event through their unique perspective.

Using their creativity to move past financial constraints, the sky is the limit for these netizens. Some imagine lineups of actors and actresses who resonate better with younger audiences, or propose implausible skits in which famous entertainers get caught in hilariously embarrassing situations. Many add a whimsical touch by mimicking established entertainers, donning suits or fake mustaches, and injecting a generous dose of sarcasm.

One video currently trending on Xiaohongshu showcases a combination of these approaches.

One Weibo user (小刚在大理) reflected on the trend, saying, “When will the Post-00s* generation take over the Spring Festival Gala? If the Spring Festival Gala has this lineup, I guarantee I won’t fall asleep, and I’ll be excited the whole night.”

Another commenter, 太阳系银河离子, remarked, “The ideas of young people may be bolder, and they might do better in terms of innovation. You never know.”

Despite complaints from younger netizens, CCTV’s annual televised Spring Festival Gala continues to grow in global influence and popularity. Its ever-expanding audience has surpassed 1 billion viewers, and it is broadcast all over the world.

The event is televised live on the eve of Lunar New Year, February 10th this year.

*A Chinese term for people born after 2000, roughly corresponding with Gen-Z.

Banner image via Xiaohongshu. The image shows rapper Vava at a rehearsal for Shenzhen TV’s Spring Festival Gala, which seems to be reaching out to a younger audience more effectively than the CCTV special.