Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
At night.
It was three minutes to 8 PM.
At Zhang Ye's in-law's house.
"Changhe, come here quickly!"
"Why?"
"It's starting!"
"What? But it's not time yet?"
"Hurry over!"
…
Online.
"Ah!"
"It's starting, it's starting!"
"It's already beginning?"
"Why did it start ahead of schedule?"
"I don't know."
"Eh, what's this?"
"An introductory video?"
"There's never been something like that in the past galas, right?"
…
America.
Chinatown.
"Mom, the Spring Festival Gala has started!"
"Ah? Shouldn't it be starting in another few minutes?"
"Come and watch! It's really started!"
"It's beginning!"
…
Right now!
At this minute and second!
The entire world's Chinese population turned their attention to Central TV Department 1.
In the past, the Spring Festival Gala would always start right in the studio. But this year, an introductory video played before the actual event had captured the attention of every Chinese person watching!
A piece of music played.
On the television screens, a row of words appeared: What is the Spring Festival Gala?
An auntie: "The Spring Festival Gala is a celebration, a very boisterous celebration!"
An uncle: "The Spring Festival Gala signifies reunion!"
A chef: "The Spring Festival Gala means having loads to eat and drink, hahaha!"
Huo Dongfang: "The Spring Festival Gala? It's a reunion feast for all Chinese people around the world!"
Xiaodong: "The Spring Festival Gala? It's just something that's there. Actually, it's probably more of a companion to the common folk during Lunar New Year's Eve."
A seafood stall owner in the south: "The Spring Festival Gala? It's about jokes from the north that we don't understand!"
A cab driver from Beijing: "The Spring Festival Gala signifies a good break for me. It's the only time of the year when I can truly switch on my TV and watch something on it."
An academic: "The Spring Festival Gala? I've never watched it before; it's so tacky."
The academic's wife: "How would you know that it's tacky if you've never watched it before? Don't mind him, that's just how he is!"
Ning Lan: "The criticism of the Spring Festival Gala shows that everyone still cares deeply about it. People nitpick the gala as they watch it, so that signifies how important it is in the hearts of everyone."
A Chinese man abroad: "The Spring Festival Gala? If we Chinese who are stationed abroad catch the Spring Festival Gala, it means that we're missing home!"
A Chinese woman abroad: "We're not as picky as the domestic viewers. We just enjoy whatever acts are lined up!"
An old man who was feeding his wife: "The Spring Festival Gala cheers her up! When one becomes old, one behaves just like a child!"
Zhang Yuanqi: "Hur hur, the Spring Festival Gala? It's just the night before Lunar New Year, isn't it?"
An old man from a scholarly family: "The Spring Festival Gala should not only be about entertainment. It should also be educational!"
The old man's son: "Aiyo, Dad! After working hard for a year, the Spring Festival Gala should be a source of enjoyment to everyone. Don't keep schooling us with your thoughts on what it should be!"
The old man: "What's so bad about being able to get a takeaway from it!"
A young man: "Do you know where my greatest source of enjoyment when watching the Spring Festival Gala lies?"
Several other men: "Flam-ing! Ah! Haha!"
A traffic cop: "The Spring Festival Gala is everyone watching the performances while we safeguard your peace!"
A nurse: "The Spring Festival Gala is a time when we welcome new lives into this world!"
Two Navy sailors: "The Spring Festival Gala is making sure we're combat ready to protect our land!"
A firefighting squad: "The Spring Festival Gala is maintaining our readiness for any situation!"
…
This introductory video stunned every Chinese person who was watching on television!
There wasn't any preaching!
There wasn't any deliberate overstating!
It wasn't full of praise!
Didn't understand the jokes? It was tacky? The greatest source of enjoyment when watching the Spring Festival Gala was flaming it?
A lot of negative comments were casually included in the introductory video!
This introductory video was very special. It was so special that many people felt touched by it. People from all kinds of industries, be it men or women, young or old, all of them had a different understanding of the Spring Festival Gala, and there were various attitudes for it. What was the Spring Festival Gala? There was never a definitive answer to that question. Every person had their own understanding and answer, just like those people who were featured in the introductory video.
The main event hadn't even started yet!
But this appetizer of a video clip had already stunned everyone!
They had never come across anyone starting off a Spring Festival Gala that way!
On Weibo.
"Whose idea is this?"
"It must be Zhang Ye's idea."
"This is a good one!"
"Yeah, I quite liked it!"
"Zhang Ye's way of doing things is indeed different from other people's!"
"I like how Sister Zhang answered: The Spring Festival Gala? It's just the night before Lunar New Year—hahahaha!"
"That person who said that the Spring Festival Gala was about flaming it spoke my mind for me!"
"This introductory video has got a thing or two!"
"I'm just worried that this will be the only highlight of the show."
"Uh, I'm worried about that too."
"That's right, I suppose that the acts lined up will still be the same as the previous years. They're going to have the same kinds of dances, on the same stage, and with the same songs too, haha. If that's really how it is, I'll just head to bed."
…
At 8 PM sharp.
Central TV, in the production control room.
Zhang Ye said loudly, "Three!
"Two!
"One!
"Curtains up, cue the music!"
…
On TV.
The scene changed and the main stage appeared onscreen!
The sound of music and dancing exploded!
The dancers came out onto the stage!
The opening dance began!
The Spring Festival Gala had arrived!
This was the first act of the entire Spring Festival Gala, and it was also the most difficult act to handle. It went without saying how important the opening dance was, yet it was very difficult to manage it. Dancing? Singing? Getting a bunch of celebrities to strut their stuff on stage? In the many years of the Spring Festival Gala, this formula had been repeated too many times and had totally lost the interest of the audience. As such, Zhang Ye was hoping to prevail over the dissenting views. He spent almost all of the 1 billion RMB budget to recreate Broadcasting Studio 1's main stage, then brought over the highest rated song and dance act from his previous world's Spring Festival Gala as the opener here!
From the acts!
To the stage!
To the performers!
To the effects!
Zhang Ye had spent a lot of effort in trying to make this work!
He did whatever it took to ensure that they could get the gala off to a good start!
…
Watching TV.
"Is this a new stage?"
"All of the facilities and equipment have been changed?"
"Yeah, it's different from the ones that I've seen in past years."
"It does look very impressive."
At the beginning, no one seemed to think much about it.
But all of a sudden, the entire stage was imbued with a feeling of spring! Countless flowers started blooming onstage, across the big screen, on the floor, and in the air. It seemed like an ocean of flowers was all around with no blind corners. The 3D lighting effects conjured up many realistic flower blooms all over the place!
Then it turned into summer.
Followed by autumn.
And finally winter.
The sun.
The sea breeze.
The snowflakes.
All of these effects appeared season after season onstage!
The performers were dancing!
The four seasons were also dancing!
…
At Zhang Ye's maternal grandma's house.
The three sisters were squealing.
"Heavens!"
"Brother is so awesome!"
"H-How did they do that?"
"It's too beautiful!"
Zhang Ye's uncles and aunties were also stunned!
…
At Old Wu's parents' house.
"Aiyo!"
"What's with this opening dance?"
"Are they real? Or is it special effects?"
"How can the special effects be this good!"
…
At a television station.
"Damn!"
"Did they really overhaul their equipment?"
"How much would that have cost them?!"
"The station head requested a quote from the Americans. Not including the servicing costs and just based on the hardware alone, it was quoted at 400 million RMB! If we include everything together, it would cost at least 800 million RMB! It might even be much more than that! Much less our television station, which other television station in the world could bear such a cost! Not even the Americans themselves have tried out this set of equipment before! This was just developed this year, and Central TV should be the first in the world to purchase it!"
"Has Central TV gone mad?!"
"It's not Central TV that has gone mad, it's Zhang Ye who's the crazy one!"
"That wastrel!"
"It seems like Zhang Ye is really going all out!"
…
Watching TV.
Countless viewers were stunned!
"This is magnificent!"
"Damn, I'm dumbfounded from seeing this!"
"Is that really special effects? How's that possible!"
"Has technology really become this advanced?"
"Yeah, it has! I heard that this stage is equipped with the most advanced lighting facilities in the world! This was revealed in the news. But as for how good it really is, the media didn't report on that. So no one really knows because no one has seen it before. But what the hell, they've finally revealed just what sort of a stage they've got set up today! As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Those words couldn't be truer! This money is absolutely well spent!"
"This is so awesome!"
"If I had to give the lighting effects and colors a score out of 10, I would fucking give it 10,000 points!"
"Look! The entire floor is made out of displays!"
"W-Wouldn't it break when they step on it?"
"Who knows! How fucking much money would that have cost them!"
"This year's Spring Festival Gala has really gone through a total overhaul! They've really switched from shotguns to cannons!"
"I'm gonna cry! Motherfucker, has our Spring Festival Gala finally been bestowed with the facilities of a world-class stage? This opening dance has really amazed me!"
"Me too!"
"What a visual feast this is!"
"Everyone, quickly start flaming!"
"Fuck, I have no idea how to flame them!"
"This year's Spring Festival Gala's main stage is too impressive!"
"This is what I call a Spring Festival Gala!"
"Right, this is what the Spring Festival Gala should look like!"
What were the stages like for the Spring Festival Gala in the past?
It would only have an ordinary large display, one that only got larger and more colorful with each passing year. Basically, there weren't usually many major changes. There was even once when the audience seating was not revamped for two years in a row. A lot of people had flamed the Spring Festival Gala regarding this during last year's event, so who could have thought that this year's Spring Festival Gala would bring about such an overwhelming change. Zhang Ye had to withstand such great pressure back then to introduce an advertising model for the Spring Festival Gala. And right now, the most direct effect that it brought about was shockingly seen here!
With an opening dance, it had stunned the Chinese population around the world!
At home!
On Weibo!
On the Internet!
Everyone started heatedly discussing this!