The 2023 Lantern Festival Gala held by China Media Group (CMG) aired on Sunday and received a positive reaction from viewers. As of February 6, the cross-media live broadcast of CMG's Lantern Festival Gala has reached 332 million views overall.

Surprises like mystery boxes

"The smile on the face of the audience is the most authentic evaluation of the evening," said a social media user.

Usually, TV stations publish their program list and cast before the gala starts, so that the audience can tune in for their favorites, but this year's CMG Lantern Festival Gala has not announced them in advance.

Viewers commented on Weibo that not revealing the program list in advance made watching "like opening a mystery box".

In addition to "opening mystery boxes," the Lantern Festival Gala 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 besides the usual genres for traditional Chinese festival gala, such as crosstalk and sketch comedy, as well as dancing and singing performances.

The Honor Guard Battalion of the Chinese People's Liberation Army participated in the Lantern Festival Gala for the first time this year, and the magnificent chorus also showcased the style of soldiers in the new era.

A display of millennia-old customs

One of the 2023 Lantern Festival Gala's most eye-catching performances was the traditional Chinese opera "View Lanterns." The performance depicts a festive reunion scene during the Lantern Festival. Just like the opera artists' chanting, this has 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.

Overseas feedback

The gala also attracted attention overseas. CMG broadcast it to a global audience in 68 languages. China Global Television Network (CGTN) released more than 1,092 reports on the Lantern Festival gala in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Russia, receiving more than 132 million views worldwide.

The live broadcast on overseas social platforms exceeded 10.7 million views, a significant increase of 206% over last year.

Many overseas netizens expressed their love and best wishes for the Lantern Festival gala on CMG's multiple platforms “Happy Lantern Festival to China and Chinese friends, and congratulation to the artists and organizer for such a wonderful show!” said one comment.

“Impressive. And beautiful to see and listen to," a netizen commented under the program of rhythmic gymnastics of the Gala on CGTN's Youtube platform.

The Chinese Lantern Festival, also known as Yuan Xiao Jie or Shang Yuan Festival, involves an evening of joyful celebration and is the most important festival in China after the Chinese New Year festivities. In addition to eating glutinous rice balls – a traditional Chinese snack during the Lantern Festival – viewers look forward to the Lantern Festival gala every year. 

Just as at the 2023 Spring Festival Gala, CMG integrated television and new media production and distributed the Lantern Festival Gala through multiple media platforms with the concept of "Thought + Art + Technology." The immersive effects of programs were greatly improved through new technologies such as AR virtual special effects, XR virtual-real fusion production, stereo video and three-dimensional color sound.