A casual survey suggests that ninety-eight percent of Sinica listeners have at some point joined Chinese friends or family in watching the annual television spectacular known as the “Spring Festival Gala.” Sadly, whether from excessive pork consumption or the mildly sedative effects of baijiu, the same percentage report occasional difficulties making it through the entire show....
That’s excuse enough for Sinica to take a look back this week, asking not only whether this year’s show was any good, but how we think the show will last and what its change in direction this year under filmmaker Feng Xiaogang tells us about the priorities of the new administration. Joining Kaiser for this discussion is Alice Liu from the Chinese translation magazine Pathlight as well as David Moser, who shares insider knowledge of how the gala works gleaned from a previous appearance on the show.