TV galas back to basics in frugality drive
Print Edition
China will tone down and simplify the glitzy, kitsch and widely watched television galas beamed across the country over the traditional Lunar New Year festival, as part of government efforts to fight graft.
The CCTV Spring Festival Gala, a more than four-hour showcase of comedy skits, music and dance, has become a fixture for hundreds of millions of Chinese since first broadcast in 1982, spawning copy-cat shows on regional stations.
This year, Canadian singer Celine Dion was given top billing on CCTV’s gala where she sang “My Heart Will Go On” and a Chinese song, and every year a whole host of famous Chinese faces put in appearances.
But next year’s event is going to be a more basic affair, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday, following President Xi Jinping’s campaign to cast aside extravagance and fight corruption.
“Stage lighting and decoration will use the most economical technologies, luxurious decors will be spurned, and simplicity will be striven for,” the news agency said.
Beijing Television will also cut spending on lighting, decorations and payments to stars on its show, focusing instead on “the experience of the feelings of local people,” Xinhua added.
Shanghai Television will give more space to new and upcoming artists, while Zhejiang Television will no longer allow any A-list celebrities to appear.
“All of these measures are to control the indiscriminate extravagances of television galas,” a spokesman for China’s television regulator was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
The new rules echo similar demands made of officials to simplify their lives by Xi since he took over as Party chief last November. He has made cutting back on extravagance and waste a key theme of fighting corruption, warning the problem is so severe it could threaten the very survival of the Communist Party.
The Party issued an eight-point regulation in December 2012, banning extravagance and formality from events attended by officials. Since its introduction, upscale restaurants have seen less lavish banquets and declining revenues, Xinhua said.
In July, the Party introduced a five-year ban on the construction of new government buildings as another step in the drive.
Numerous scandals in recent years have centered on extravagant expenditure on new government buildings by officials, often in poverty-struck inland regions, Xinhua said.
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