iMe invited on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala

January 5, 2012 | Posted in Mainland China,Television, Tagged , ,

New Spring Festival Gala director Ha Wen gives the invitation to a teary iMe.

For years, fans of Super Girls have always been waiting for the unspoken rule to be broken – that no artists from the show was to be seen in any of CCTV’s major shows. And the most important of that was the annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala, who, despite its decreasing credibility, remains the pinnacle of approval for an artist in mainland. We have always hoped that Jane Zhang,  with her mastery of vocals, would be attend, and several of us at Cfensi had thought there would be a chance for little Huang Ying, with her folksy roots that the festival likes so much.

This year, however, gave us a surprise. Girl group iMe, with three of its five members from Super Girls, one from the Thai equivalent, and one a former SM trainee, was recently invited by the director for rehearsals due to their international nature and youthful energy. First-time Spring Festival Gala director Ha Wen has already broken a few traditions for this year’s’ gala, will she let iMe break another one? Although the Gala has been known for brutally cutting its performances even up to the last rehearsal, all four of the guests who were invited last year were able to perform in the final version.

No information has been given on what they will perform. Other pop stars expected to be on this year’s galas  Wang Leehom,  Faye Wong,  Yang Mi, Huo Siyan, Han Geng, and Li Yugang.

source: sohu

Be Happy, Be Chinese – Hunan TV and the decentralization of Chinese TV

On the 20th, Hunan TV will launch its global channel with the logo, Be Happy, Be Chinese."

On the 20th, Hunan TV will launch its global channel with the logo, Be Happy, Be Chinese a continuation of its Happy China slogan

8 PM, Beijing Time. Xin Wen Lian Bo blares across every local and national TV station in China. For years, China has had one centralized new source for everything – Xinhua in print and CCTV on TV. While local stations are mostly allowed freedom, at 8:00pm everyday, all channels are required to show CCTV’s daily news report. But perhaps not for long. Last year, Hunan TV appealed to SARFT, China’s governmental media agency, to be allowed to broadcast its own news report rather than that of CCTV’s. Or so it was rumored. Despite the falsehood of this rumor, the fact that people believed it showed how much Hunan TV’s prestige has risen. This is only one sign of the recent decentralization of Chinese media sources, especially in the rise of local channels in popularity as interest in the state media declined.

These local channels, spearheaded by Hunan TV, although still mostly state-owned stations, lack the formalities of CCTV and are allowed to be more creative.

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New Year Galas Wrap-up

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CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala has become one of the symbols of the Lunar New Year in China and one of the most extravagant shows that CCTV puts on every year. Jay Chou’s performance was probably the most anticipated event of the night. It consisted of three generations of singers – folk singer Song Zuying, Jay and 9-year-old genius Hou Gaojunjie- singing a blend of Song Zuying’s “Spicy Girls” and Jay’s “Herbalist Manual.” Apparently, singing with Song Zuying has been a dream of Jay.

Update: Jay also said that he has already invited Song Zuying to sing in a duet with him. He says he wants to compose a duet just for her.

Herbalist Manual and Give you a Eastern  jasmine

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olWXOEqfcD0&fmt=18]

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New Years All Across China and Taiwan

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The fearless Jane Zhang

Thanks to Bluelily for making a new banner for January!

So this is a little late, but I tried to wait to see if I could find any videos of certain people I liked but that didn’t happen. Chinese people need to support Chinese artists and put up HQ videos. Seriously. I have little time on my hands so what I have here are mostly vids that others bothered to put up.

China is really way too big . There were too many choices this year. CCTV, the main national channel had its own New Years shindig targeted toward the elderly demographic. In addition to this Jiangsu, Hunan, Zhejiang, and Dragon TV were four of the bigger stations vying for the younger viewers. There were also lots of smaller stations. I feel sorry for Americans, who only have parades to watch for their big holidays.

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