#32 Some Snippets on 2023 CCTV's Spring Festival Gala 春晚
The annual CCTV's Spring Festival Gala 春晚 offers a foreigner good insights into Chinese culture and this year's programme offered some fabulous segments.
Post Category : ✅Chinese Culture ===============================================
The China Central Television (CCTV 中国中央电视台) New Year's Gala, also known as the Spring Festival Gala 春晚, which airs on the Lunar New Year Eve, is a good introduction for a foreigner if one wants to learn about traditional Chinese culture.
I was introduced to Errenzhuan (二人转) when I first watched 春晚 umpteen years ago and it was really an eye-opener for me. Errenzhuan originated in the three provinces of Northeast China - Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongiiang. It is a form of performance that involves story telling, singing, and dancing that rotate (转) between two performers. Below is an example of Errenzhuan that was shown on 春晚 more than 20 years ago:
This year's The CCTV New Year's Gala, also known as the Spring Festival Gala #春晚, which airs on the Lunar New Year Eve, is quite different IMO as I am seeing attempts of making it contemporary to attract the younger generation.
I wrote abt Errenzhuan (二人转) in my previous post but it has not been featured regularly on 春晚 for some years now. Instead, popular actresses such as Zhao Liying (赵丽颖), Yang Zi (杨紫) etc had been roped in to attract younger viewers in this year's 春晚 .
My take is that Errenzhuan is associated with an agrarian economy but with the current urbanisation and industrialisation path of China, more and more young Chinese are unable to relate to such traditional cultural performances. The other point to note is that with the economic rise of the south China, northern cultural items like Errenzhuan might not appeal to the southern Chinese.
A "Belt" of flourishing blossom with songs along the "Road"
There is an interesting item in this year’s 春晚 which titled "一带繁花一路歌" (see below video) which means a "belt" 带 of flourishing blossom with songs along the "road" 路. It is a medley of "signature songs" from 10 countries that have participated in the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) : China, #Indonesia, #Greece, #Serbia, #Egypt, #Pakistan, #NewZealand, #Tanzania, #Argentina and #Kazakhstan. Such collaboration is to mark the 10-year anniversary of the BRI which was made known to the world in 2013. I believe there would be a BRI Summit in China this year to mark the 10-year anniversary.
My thoughts:
🌺 繁花 is a homophone play on 繁华 which means prosperity
🌺Indonesia's "Bengawan Solo" ( lit. "Solo River") shd be familiar for many Singaporeans (where I am from) as there is even a bakery chain named after it.
🌺The songs are all splendid and my favourites (other than the Chinese song 茉莉花 i.e. Jasmine Flower) are:
⭐Egypt's song and its translated name in Chinese is 《太阳露出了它最美的光芒》i.e. the sun reveals its most beautiful light.
⭐New Zealand's Pokarekare Ana (The waters are agitated)
⭐Tanzania's Malaika.
⭐Argentina's Por una Cabeza
𝕮𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖊 𝕮𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖘 中国色
I was mesmerised by the item 《满庭芳·国色》performed by Zhao Liying (singing) and the group of dancers. 满庭芳 literally means the courtyard is full of fragrance which is a metaphor for a family which is harmonious and happy. 国色 means national colours and thus the title refers to how colours could inspire harmony and happiness for a person.
The ancient Chinese definition of colours is very different from the current names we are seeing now as the Chinese colours were named to conjure up imagination and so they are poetic in nature.
There are 384 types of names hence colours in Chinese colours and below five were selected for this year's 春晚 :
桃红、缃叶、群青、凝脂、沉香
as they represent the main categories of Chinese colours : 红 (red） , 黄 (yellow)，蓝 (blue），白 (white)， 黑 (black) respectively.
Notes:
✔️桃红 - the red 红 colour associated with peach blossom 桃花
✔️缃叶 - the yellow colour associated with light yellow leaf 缃叶
✔️群青 - dark blue colour with a shade of red. 青 actually came from 青金石（Lazurite) and it was the colour brought to China during the ancient Silk Road.
✔️凝脂 - white colour associated with frozen fat 凝脂
✔️沉香 - black colour associated with Chinese eaglewood 沉香
The performance is extraordinary as the dancers bring out the essence of the colours via five Chinese cultural items 水袖 (water sleeves) 、伞 (umbrella)、扇子 (fan) 、花翎 (A peacock tail feather on the hat of an official to show his official ranking in the Qing Dynasty) and 剑 (sword). Note that there are some cultural meanings with reference to colours. For eg, 凝脂 is used to refer to a gentleman (君子) given the immaculate white colour and so the dancer uses a Chinese fan in his performance.