Auditions draw hordes of hopeful performers in China and overseas

BEIJING - An online Spring Festival Gala focusing on the life of the grassroots will be broadcast globally during the traditional Chinese holiday that starts late next month.

Internet sensations mirroring small stories in people's ordinary lives will be blended into the gala, Wang Yiru, assistant editor-in-chief of China Network Television (CNTV), the organizer, told China Daily.

"Many issues with wide impact on the Internet are positive and in line with public understanding of beauty and virtues," she said.

The annual Spring Festival, the most important holiday on the Chinese lunar calendar and a key time for family reunions, will fall on Jan 23.

The gala will be shown on China Central Television as well as the website of CNTV during that holiday week.

The online gala will give ordinary people a showcase for their talents, according to Wang.

"The party will be a stage for both popular stars and talent from the common people, and more than half of the performances will be given by selected grassroots people," she said.

The organizers went to 16 cities nationwide in the past two months, holding huge auditions that attracted thousands of people, according to Hu Xuping, director of the major events department of CNTV.

Fortune smiled on Zhang Jiazi, 27, a post-graduate at the music college of Minzu University of China, who will perform a solo of a Lady Gaga song.

"Several days after the audition on our campus in November, I was contacted by the organizing committee for an interview. I was afterward told that I will sing on the Spring Festival gala," she said.

Auditions were also held overseas to involve Chinese people living abroad as well as foreign friends.

Hu said nearly 100 people tried out in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston and New York, and the winners will be invited to take the stage.

The organizer will also take advantage of video connections and micro blogs to build up communication for overseas Chinese and their relatives on the Chinese mainland during the gala.

Some overseas Chinese have already heard about the show and shown their appreciation for the platform, which can embrace people from different time zones to participate in a joyous and warm get-together.

"I work in France and I can't spend the Spring Festival with my family this year. I'm grateful that the online gala will bring me the feeling of a family reunion and take my blessings home," said a micro blogger who goes by Lantianyun on Tencent, a popular micro-blogging service provider.

China Daily