As evening falls on the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the first full moon of the Year of the Rabbit rises in the sky and a fresh lunar cycle begins. The Chinese Lantern Festival, also known as Yuan Xiao Jie or Shang Yuan Festival, marks an evening of joyful celebration and is the most important festival after the Chinese New Year festivities.

The 2023 Lantern Festival Gala, held by China Media Group (CMG), kicked off at 8 p.m. on Sunday to mark the end of the 15-day Spring Festival celebrations, featuring traditional Chinese culture and showcasing a variety of technical innovations and program creation highlights.

This year, the gala also presented some of the country's intangible cultural heritage projects, including a variety of lanterns from all corners of the country that featured Chinese traditional folk crafts, in addition to the usual genres for a traditional Chinese festival gala, such as crosstalk and sketch comedy, as well as dancing and singing performances.

One of the 2023 Lantern Festival Gala's most eye-catching performances was the traditional Chinese opera "View Lanterns." The performance depicts the festive scene of the reunion of people during the Lantern Festival. This culture, like the opera artists' chanting, and this joy have been passed down for thousands of years.

Viewing lanterns and guessing lantern riddles are an essential part of celebrating the Lantern Festival. Throughout the gala, a lantern riddle show reached out across the country, leaving the audience with a different lantern riddle at each destination, which the host led the audience to solve together while enjoying interaction with traditional customs.

CMG integrated television and new media production and distributed it through multiple media platforms with the concept of "Thought + Art + Technology." The immersive effects of programs are greatly improved through new technologies such as AR virtual special effects, XR virtual-real fusion production, stereo video and three-dimensional color sound.

First broadcast in 1985, the Lantern Festival Gala has accompanied Chinese people on the special occasion of family reunion ever since.

The gala was aired on multiple TV channels, radio stations and new media platforms. About 500 city squares across the country broadcast the Lantern Festival gala on 8K ultra-high-definition public large-screen platforms.