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By Micah McCartney
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Kung fu-performing robots and foreign artists, including 12-time Grammy winner John Legend, helped usher in the Year of the Horse on Monday as China began the Lunar New Year holiday, also known as the Spring Festival.
Why It Matters
The Spring Festival Gala, produced annually by China Media Group, is China’s most-watched Lunar New Year broadcast. Airing every year since 1983, it has become a cultural fixture, blending music, comedy, opera, martial arts and acrobatics in a variety-show format.
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The weeklong Lunar New Year holiday is the most important on China’s calendar. Hundreds of millions of people travel domestically or internationally during the period—often described as the world’s largest annual human migration.
The holiday is also widely observed beyond mainland China, including in Taiwan and across Southeast Asia in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Vietnam celebrates Tết, while the Korean Peninsula marks Seollal, parallel new year traditions rooted in the lunar calendar.
Newsweek reached out to Legend’s representatives by email for comment.
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What To Know
This year’s gala spotlighted China’s advances in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence applications, virtual-reality glasses and drones.
More than a dozen humanoid robots joined young martial artists in a choreographed kung fu routine, executing kicks, wall jumps and other acrobatic feats with near-human fluidity. Several robots also incorporated elements of drunken boxing, a style known for its off-balance movements and deceptive footwork.
China has positioned itself as a global leader in humanoid robotics, one of the strategic industries highlighted by President Xi Jinping during his New Year’s Eve address. These robots are being put to a growing range of uses, from traffic management to eldercare assistance.
International performers were also featured prominently. Legend performed his 2013 hit “All of Me” and joined French singer Hélène Rollès for a duet of “Beauty and the Beast” from the 1991 Disney animated film of the same name. Irish pop group Westlife sang their 2000 single “My Love.”
The event was broadcast across nearly 4,000 overseas media platforms—a roughly 38 percent increase from last year—and generated 677 million views, per state media outlet the China Daily. Guinness World Records previously described the gala as the world’s most-watched annual television program.
What People Are Saying
Xi Feng, China’s ambassador to the United States, on X: “Remember the robot dancers at the Spring Festival Gala last year? This year, they’ve evolved into Kung Fu masters!”
Westlife, on X: “Wishing you all a happy Chinese New Year in the year of the Horse!”
What Happens Next
China’s humanoid robotics sector now comprises nearly 150 companies and is growing at an annual rate exceeding 50 percent, with market size projected to reach 100 billion yuan (about $14.2 billion) by the end of the decade, according to state broadcaster China Global Television Network.
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