Shanzhai CCTV Spring Festival gala to go online (3)

CCTV standard

Compared with new online and regional TV galas, CCTV hasn't changed its show, except this year it will be broadcast on the video Website Joy.cn.

Shanghai stand-up comedian Zhou Libo has declined an invitation (he only performs in Shanghainese), and many of comedy skits will be performed by well-known northern Chinese actors such as Huang Hong and Zhao Benshan.

Highlights include singer Faye Wong, the Taiwanese band The Little Tigers (who return to the stage after an absence of more than a decade) and Lu Chen's magic performance.

According to Yuan Dewang, a former chief director of the gala, it's a dilemma to highlight both tradition and innovation in such a big project.

"Most of the candidate acts go through five rounds of screening from veteran CCTV producers and government officials to ensure the high quality of the gala," Yuan says. "Even the director himself doesn't has the right to change the repertoire. It is always a team production.

Expert view

Media and culture experts say the emergence of grassroots online galas can help inject vitality into the Lunar New Year's celebration.

Professor Wu Gang, a media expert from East China Normal University, says many people have been disappointed by the CCTV gala's glitzy but stale programing over the years, but they had no alternative.

"To cater to a big nationwide audience, the gala is actually a medley that simply repeats its schemes and design year after year," Wu says. "Now the ritual gala faces big challenges from folk and Internet shows.

"I don't think competition and cultural diversity are bad. It's time for media tycoons and other TV stations to listen to the hearts of the grassroots people and present more creative and original programs - otherwise they will lose their appeal among Internet users," he adds. Shanzhai knock-offs, parodies Shanzhai, one of the latest buzzwords, refers to imitation, copycat, counterfeit, sometimes pirated goods, especially electronics, such as big-selling knock-off mobile phones. It can also mean tacky or inventive look-alikes and parodies.

It's a people's edition of high-end stuff.

Shanzhai literally means mountain village or mountain stronghold, referring to fortresses away from official control in ancient times.

It first referred to cheap, knock-off cell phones manufactured in the mountains of Guangdong Province in the past few years. They are exactly like branded genuine articles, sometimes with more functions and easier to use.

Today shanzhai has become a cultural phenomenon and can refer to people and events that are look-alikes, low-quality or improved goods, as well as parodies. It can mean copy or it can mean innovation.

It carries the connotation of challenging the mainstream. Local producers of shanzhai cell phones, for example, challenge domination of the market by multinationals.

The term suggests Chinese-style innovation with a grassroots mindset. It can imitate high-end products or events in which grassroots people do not share or participate.

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