CCTV 's Spring Festival Gala

There are not many differences for Malaysian Chinese in celebrating their eve before the lunar new year. Other than the usual get to together for the family reunion dinner at home or the increasingly popular dining out, many especially the young would also choose to go out for the so-called new year movies or catch up with friends for a drink. My personal preference has been on watching the TV program at home. The CCTV's Spring Festival Gala or Chunwan (春晚) show was my choice ever since our local satellite TV service provider, ASTRO started airing the program a couple of years ago. This is also the most widely watched program in the mainland China ever since it was inaugurated in 1982.

This year's Chunwan show is definitely a must watch because of appearance of the long missed artists such as Faye Wong (王菲) and Xiao Hu Dui (The Little Tigers - 小虎队) after a long break. The Mando-pop diva,Faye Wong performed the song "The Legend" (传奇), an old song composed by Li Jian (李健), a talented singer cum composer in the mainland. With the new song arrangement and the amazing Avatar like 3D background effect, and her usual crystal clear vocal, the performance was extraordinary good and attracted big applause from the crowd after the song performance. The video posting for her performance in Youtube has attracted more than 100,000 views in one day with many comments welcoming her back to the music career she left behind 5 years ago.

Faye Wong in her performance

For many of us born in the 70s and 80s, the Little Tiger is defintely in the memory for many fans of the Chinese music industry. The boys band reunite in the year of tiger, unfortunately in the Chunwan show only, after a long break up for more than a decade. The medley of 3 old songs performed reminded the audience of their teenage days and you can see everyone in the scene clapping their hands singing together with their idols. This was definitely the most popular performance in the whole show. It doesn't really matter that the little tigers are no really young boys.

The Little Tigers reunion in the year of Tiger

Another innovation worth mentioning is the stunning background 3D effect on the stage with multiple LED screens, the first of its kind at the stage performance. This reminds me of the opening of the Beijing Olympic games in 2008.

Stunning background 3D effect