2020-2026 has arrived.
Woohoo!
And across China, a three-day public holiday is dedicated to celebrating this new beginning double woohoo.
We're taking you into the heart of this cultural moment where tradition meets modernity in unique and personal ways.
We'll explore the sounds, flavors and rituals that define this national pause, a collective breath taken before stepping forward together into the promise of the year ahead.
Coming to you from our studios in Beijing, this is Roundtable.
I'm Steve.
Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today.
And for the show, I'm with Fei-Fei and Yushan.
First up.
2026 is here, everyone.
Happy New Year to you.
And for many of us, a new calendar brings the promise of a fresh start.
Here in China, the arrival of the new year is marked by a three-day public holiday.
Time to pause, time to celebrate, and time to reset.
Today we'll take you on an immersive tour.
On the show.
We'll walk through the sensory details the aroma, if you will, of freshly brewed tea, the heat of molten iron in traditional performances, and even the crisp clicks behind today's culturally immersive celebrations.
From Beijing and Shanghai to all the other places we need to know about.
We'll check in on how people across the country are welcoming the start today of 2026, and i know feifei and yushan have welcomed the start of 2026.
Happy new year to you.
Happy new year, wow.
Can you believe it?
Yeah, we've survived this far, huh and um.
First of all, as a proud beijinger, i'm going to start with what's going on in Beijing during the New Year period.
So back in mid-December last year, the Beijing Authority announced a series of events under the umbrella title of and this is a big title called the Bell and Drum Fan Fair Splendid Beijing Start.
2026 Beijing New Year's Day Integrated Culture, Tourism, Commerce, Sports, and Exhibition Series.
You are right.
That is a long title.
Precisely.
So this series of events it runs from December 21st of 2025 to January the 3rd, 2026 under the same theme.
And one huge highlight would be the New Year's Eve events and venues.
And some of them took place in very historic and cultural venues such as the Dazhong Temple, which is where the bell ringing for blessing is demonstrated to everybody, both physically inside the temple and also online as well.
So Dazhong Temple I've got a personal connection to that place because it's my first ever workplace.
It's located very close to that temple.
And the Dazhong Temple is known because of the grand bell that it houses.
That's over 600 years old.
Is that the bell and drum tower location or is that a different spot?
That's a different spot.
But the temple features the Yongle Great Bell, or Grand Bell.
That was built during the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty and is the largest existing bronze bell in China.
That's known to all of the Chinese at this point.
So for that bell, it has Buddha Sutra carved on both the inside and the outside.
And ringing that bell on the very first day, or rather the eve of the new year, is a good blessing throughout the year.
So I'm really excited to see it.
And the way you can participate is not only visiting the temple but also ringing the bell online, because they run this mini app on WeChat where you can click on your phone and ring the bell digitally and get a voucher for like shopping or designated consumption season afterwards.
Oh, that's awesome.
So that's got a special place in your heart then.
I can imagine there's lots of tourists around.
That means that you worked in an area that tourists would visit almost on a daily basis, I guess.
Yeah, that's the magical thing about Beijing because you never know.
You can walk into an alley and realize this is actually a historic spot.
Oh, does that happen to you, too?
Yeah.
Oh, OK.
That makes me feel better because we were it was I think it was in the summertime.
My wife and I were just kind of walking from neighborhood to neighborhood.
And then, all of a sudden, we looked up and there was this.
It was at nighttime at that point in the day.
And there's this huge, gorgeous building in front of us, this historical building.
And I said, what's that?
So I took a picture of it, asked the Internet.
They were like, oh, that's the drum tower, like one of the most famous places in Beijing.
And I felt so stupid at that moment.
But it's good to know that even people who are from Beijing stumble across landmarks from time to time.
Yeah, and so that's why I think a lot of the celebrations this year in Beijing is kind of like a conversation with the past.
You can always see there is a historic and cultural element in it.
For example, in the city.
They also launched, like tea around the stove, travel routes, which I believe are 10 of them.
And a lot of them are surrounding, like very famous figures in the past or, you know, historic sites.
For example, in the center of the city there is a park called the Zhongshan Park, which is literally just beside the Palace Museum.
And in that park there is a tea house called Laijin Yuxuan, which is the name comes from an ancient poem, which basically means you know, making friends.
It's a very friendly environment.
And it's where a lot of very famous writers in, I think, after the Qing dynasty collapsed.
And a lot of writers would gather in that particular tea house and to discuss the future of Chinese literature.
Wow.
And now you can actually visit that tea house and enjoy some of their favorite food.
For example, the Lu Xun's favorite vegetable steamed buns and jasmine tea in that tea house.
Lovely.
Wow.
To sit in the spot where the writers that would think about the future artistically of the country sat in that very spot and drank that very tea.
I want to go there.
That must be a cool moment to sit in that same environment.
Exactly.
It's one of my favorite places.
I don't know why.
You just have the vibe for reading and writing in that particular tea house.
You feel artistically inspired when you go there?
Yeah, I feel like a writer myself.
We should do our roundtable scripts from there.
Yeah, that's true.
And also enjoy the steamed buns.
The steamed buns are very, very delicious.
I recommend everyone to try it out if you have the chance.
Very cool.
The Great Wall.
Of course, everybody around the world knows about the Great Wall of China and they had a particular party last night.
Yeah, it's not just any Great Wall.
It's the Zhuyongguan Great Wall, which is perhaps not As popular as the Badaling Great Wall, that's more known internationally.
Well, that's the one that's closest to the center of Beijing, right?
That's closer and also it has the better preservation of the walls, as per the whole experience of climbing the site.
But what people might not know is that the Badaling Great Wall was actually forged during the Ming Dynasty.
While the Zhiyongguan Great Wall, the part that's hosted the drum formation performance, is actually located at the southwestern side of the Badaling Great Wall.
And it's more or less, it's more historical.
Some says that it was first constructed since the Qin Dynasty, that's back in 221 to 207 BC.
While some others says that it's forged earlier during the Warring Period.
And that some of the walls construction also features a lot of cultural and Buddhism features and influences which make it even a better place for witnessing sunrise.
So that's also part of this whole design of hosting this drum formation performance there, which is to gather people there early up and see the whole sunrise above the Great Wall.
I've only been to the Badaling location.
And, if I'm honest, in my travels around the world when I see, you know, buildings or sites or whatever, I'm not usually that kind of tourist meaning like I just feel like OK, if I go to a palace, I feel like OK, this is cool, but I'm not really that blown away.
And I thought I would feel like that when I visited the Great Wall, because I've seen pictures of it and it looks very impressive.
Of course,
But when I got there and you're standing on that thing and of course when you're in one location, you can only see a little little like tiny, tiny piece of the whole thing.
But just to imagine how far that stretches on, for thousands and thousands of kilometers I was blown away by that, actually.
And the upkeep of the battling section, it's almost pristine, I feel like.
It's so well taken care of.
And there's little shops and restaurants there where you can get snacks and trinkets and things like that.
And there's a cable car that you have to stand in line for for a long time.
But it's just a really, really, really cool experience.
I can't compare it to other portions of the Great Wall that you can visit, but I can say I really enjoyed that one.
Well, in the other side of the town I think it's more upper northeastern part of Beijing, where you can have a look at another section of the Great Wall which is a little bit more rustic compared to Badaling, because not many visitors go to that part of the Great Wall.
But they also have like nighttime experiences launched where you have lights and things.
And you can really see, you know, the stones falling down in some of the stairs of the wall.
And you can sort of imagine, you know, because in parts of the section of that Great Wall that they don't have the walls on two sides of you.
You're just walking on that lane, unprotected, feel like unprotected.
And, you know, on top of the mountain, the wind, the gale is also unimaginable.
It's sort of like if you stand on on the edge of the lane it feels like you would fall down if you're not careful.
Wow, so a totally different experience.
A totally different.
So in Beijing, in different sections of the Great Wall, it's definitely like different parts of the experiences that you can have, compared to Badaling or Mutianyu or other part of it.
Speaking of experiences, lots of stuff happened around Beijing.
798 Art Zone, they had some trendy art installations.
The Beijing Exhibition Center held the China-Beijing International Art Biennale and also the West Bank of the Grand Canal had a romantic artificial snow experience.
That is in the Tongzhou district, I believe, on the eastern side of the town.
Lovely.
But here we are on January 1st in 2026 and there's lots of activities happening now too.
Yeah, first is the Welcome, the First Ray of New Year's Sun activity in a village in Miyun District, which is in Beijing's easternmost point.
And then there's the release of 52 Beijing Tourism and Leisure Greenway running activity guides at Baifuquan Park.
So yeah, there's a comprehensive map covering over 70 events in four categories, and that covers the New Year's Eve celebrations from last night, the blessing activities, the ice and snow activities, art events.
That's all launched by Beijing Culture and Tourism Authority.
So yeah, there's a lot to visit, a lot to enjoy during the holiday.
We are dead into winter now and there's lots of winter travel routes and cultural activities and things related too.
Yeah, exactly.
And also keep in mind that 2026, China is welcoming the Year of the Horse.
And so for a lot of museum and cultural activities, horse will also be the theme of them.
For example, the Zhi Hua Temple.
And they launched the Tian Ma, Heavenly Horse, Oh, okay.
So you're not just, you know, celebrating the New Year.
You're eating it.
Yeah, you're basically eating the spirit of the horse.
And also listening to it, because there's also the fourth Children's New Year concert called the Heavenly Horse Magical Nights.
And that's just one of the concerts that's spanning across the country new year season.
There are overall 437 shows and over 2 000 performances that's available for ticket purchase from winter solstice to the new year holiday period, and also there's a lot of stage dramas and musicals that some of which have already premiered and debuted in december last year, while some others are keep on coming up during the new year season and keep on touring around china in the future as well, including the musical called 40 days hello veteran.
And then there's the children's play when will the bright moon rise?
All of which me personally i'm really anticipating, since i'm a huge theatrical performance fan.
The shopping mall is always a fun place to go around the time of New Year.
And that means there's tons of things happening in the malls for us to enjoy.
Actually, over 100 preferential activities by more than 50 key malls.
No lack of choice there.
Big malls around the city with discounts, with full reduction offers, with free gifts, point redemption, group purchase deals.
You can imagine it.
So basically, we can go out, enjoy your theater, enjoy your ice and snow activities.
There is always a place to enjoy some of the delicious and hot meals.
So that's another thing.
And also nearly 100 catering enterprises.
Basically means over 200 stores will offer international flavors, local specialties and classic Beijing cuisine like hot pot.
I think it's perfect for this season.
Yeah.
Hotpot's perfect for every season.
That's what I've learned from living in Beijing so far.
There is no specific hotpot season.
Good in the summer, good in the winter, good in the spring, good in the fall.
Yeah, and you mentioned ice and snow themed activities earlier.
So in many of these mosques, they're also hosting activities of such.
For example, the Wangfu Central Outdoor Ice Rink is opening to the public to invite more people there, adults and children, to try skating.
And also there is the Li Ze number 16 shopping center that features a figure skating competition, while the Yanqing Wanda Plaza children's ice and snow sports meeting is also being held around this time of the year too.
I'm always wondering like can people actually skate around and enjoy the limited space in the ice rink inside a mall?
Because me personally, I've never been to one before.
I've been down to those rinks before.
Well, in Chaoyang, at least in one of the malls downtown in Beijing, there's a full sized ice rink and it's in the shopping mall.
And it's on the I guess you'd call that the first floor, but then from the second floor and the third floor, unless I'm mistaken, you can kind of look down and watch people skating, but it's huge.
And from what I saw, they have specific times dedicated for lessons.
And it's so cute because you get such a mix of people out there enjoying it, right?
You've got like little tiny kids who are probably I don't know four years old, maybe learning how to skate for the first time.
But then you've got grandpas and grandmas out there who are learning or just going for a casual skate too.
Then they've got the public skating time.
So that's the lesson time.
But then they've got the public skating time where, yeah, you just kind of skate in circles.
But there's plenty of space for that.
How are your skating skills, both of you?
Newbie level.
Newbie?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can skate, but that's pretty much the level that I can reach.
Defining it just like that, not falling down.
What about you, Steve?
Yeah, pretty good, I would say.
Awesome.
Yeah, shopping mall is always a fun place to go around the time of New Year's.
Lots of buzz, lots of energy, lots of excitement in there.
Also a time for museums to open their doors and welcome people in, to say goodbye to one year and to welcome another.
Yeah, there are more than 40 museums who held New Year's Eves and also extended opening activities at this time of the year.
Over 20 museums stay open until this morning, for example.
And then there are many interactive programs in many of these museums.
The National Museum of Natural History is opening a lot of immersive cinematic experiences for especially the children.
And then in the Beijing Planetarium they held something called the Cosmic New Year's Eve Invitation.
Just last night,
They allowed visitors to gaze at the starry sky of the new year through a telescope right at midnight.
Something that's so romantic, I would say.
Yeah, lovely time of year to do that too, isn't it, as we kick off the new year.
Well, there you go.
Lots to do in Beijing.
Now let's change gears and change locations on the map.
Let's go to Shanghai for a moment, shall we?
We have a reporter in Shanghai, boots on the ground, so to speak, as the new year kicks off.
Let's get a taste of what it's like in that beautiful city.
Hello, Roundtable.
This is CGTN reporter Zhang Sirian in Shanghai.
Right now I'm at one of the buzziest spots in the city, a new year market next to the Bond Financial Center.
Incredible view of shanghai's iconic skyline is just about 15 minute walk away from where i stand here.
At the market you can find snacks, drinks and handcrafted decorations or souvenirs for the holiday season and during the three-day holiday, the entire city has been transformed into an interactive playground by a massive event called celebrate 2026 in shanghai.
The goal is very ambitious to invite both residents and visitors to to create a must-visit list in Shanghai for the upcoming year.
And the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism has curated over 350 designated photo spots with unique experiences.
The variety of the spots is designed to showcase every facet of Shanghai.
For instance, you could be exploring the futuristic marvels of the skyscrapers home to China's tallest building, the Shanghai Tower, and a short ferry ride away is the mesmerizing architecture of the historic bond.
For a taste of tradition.
The ancient water towns on the outskirts are also included, offering a glimpse into classical China.
And for families.
The Shanghai Disney Resort and the Shanghai Legoland are definitely on the itinerary.
Participation is what makes this event truly special.
You can check in digitally by sharing your photos and videos online, or you can collect different stamps on site for a physical souvenir of your journey.
Ultimately, the event generates a remarkable city vibe, one of shared discovery and celebration that may last for the entire 2026.
This is Zhang Sirian in Shanghai, and Happy New Year, everyone!
Thank you so much for the update from Shanghai.
I need some Shanghai travel advice because I've attempted.
Is that the right word?
I've wanted to go twice, but it was both times were during National Day holidays.
And so before I booked the tickets, I just asked around the office like oh, people ask me what are you going to do for the holiday?
I'm going to go to Shanghai.
We're going to go to Shanghai this time.
And everybody said, oh no, super crowded.
That's what everybody said don't go.
Don't go to Shanghai during a busy holiday time.
So this is my question when can I go to Shanghai?
That is a good question though, because I cannot imagine Shanghai not crowded, especially around the Bund area along the river.
You know, the way I do it is just Find a good weekend and maybe ask for a day off on the previous Friday or the following Monday.
Make it a three-day weekend.
Make it a three-day and just go by the weekend instead of rushing to the city when everybody is also rushing to the city.
Yeah.
Exactly.
And also I have some stats for the New Year's Eve, for example.
A lot of the restaurants, Riverside, like along the Bound area... were fully booked.
We should probably explain that for our listeners who don't know what that is.
The Bund is the, if you look at the kind of iconic skyline images of Shanghai that probably most people have seen on the internet.
It's the river area right.
And it just kind of follows.
You see all the skyscrapers there?
Yeah, where you can see the Shanghai Tower and all the other skyscrapers.
So many of the restaurants that are able to overlook the skyscrapers were fully booked on the New Year's Eve.
I bet those were booked about a year ago.
Yeah, so they have the stats that the overall food traffic in these restaurants will be 30 higher than usual throughout the New Year's period.
So throughout the three day holiday it would be very difficult to make a booking if you didn't pre-book it.
Impossible probably, right?
It is impossible.
That's probably one of the hottest spots in the world to try to have dinner on a New Year's time.
And Siren mentioned something that I personally really recommend too, that is the ferry ride.
It's not really that long.
It's about an hour from my memory.
I've only took that for once, but If I am to take whoever that hasn't been to Shanghai to Shanghai and get to enjoy Shanghai, that's what I'll tell them to do.
Go on a ferry ride, especially during the evening time when all the lights on those architectures, historic or modern, are all lit up.
That's the best time when you get to enjoy the Bund.
Gorgeous, gorgeous.
Fei-Fei, it seems like there's an activity designed just for you.
There's a running activity.
Yes.
Yes, there is a running activity in Beijing and on Shanghai on the first day of 2026, which is today.
Yes, there is a running activity at the base of the Oriental Pearl Tower, which is also by the riverside around the Bund area.
And so that's where the route basically follows to a lot of the landmark spots and sites in Shanghai.
I would love to go there myself if I had the chance.
So it's kind of like see the tourist sites and do it while you're jogging.
Yeah, it's very popular among the jogging community actually just to run around some of the famous sites in the city.
Well, you don't feel painful by finishing that 10K, the 10 kilometer mark, it'll be more easier than to just, you know, running around looking at all the skyscrapers and historic sites.
Yeah, that's a cool, yeah, if you're a runner, that's a really cool way to see any city, to be fair.
Shanghai also has its cultural landmarks.
It also has its museums.
They have exhibits going on as well.
One at the pudong art museum called the miracle of patterns.
It's running well.
Actually it started in the middle of december but you've still got plenty of time to see it.
It's going on until early may and that's going to showcase 300 pieces from the louvre museum.
Yeah, really cool right, depicting indian and iranian and ottoman civilizations.
They've also got a Picasso exhibit happening until early May as well.
So that's going to be a hot spot for people to check out.
Exactly.
And also Shanghai also have a lot of concerts.
If you are a musical fan, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center presented a night of classical music.
That actually happened on December the 29th.
But it features a lot of iconic pieces from the classical music circles and also some of the Chinese classical music.
Yeah, Richard Klederman performed with a performance under his good old title, Piano Prince.
He's known to my mom's generation.
My mom doesn't even play piano, but he knows this person.
And she kind of worships the music that she brings.
So, even though many of these concerts that we just mentioned already wraps up, it's still a good chance in the future to anticipate that Shanghai will keep on bringing vocalists, bringing forth more classical pieces and spectacular classical music performances in the future.
It's such a hub for it.
All right, gang, pack your bags again.
We're leaving Shanghai and we're going to Chongqing this time to hear from our reporter first, Ming.
Hello, Roundtable.
This is Ming in Chongqing.
As we step into 2026, The twin cities of the southwest, Chongqing and Chengdu, have put out a show that blends Asian tradition with futuristic flair.
Let's start right here in the mountain city Chongqing.
If you want classic, high-energy experience, all roads lead to the Zhefangbei Monument.
Thousands of locals and tourists around the world gathered here to shout out the countdown together.
When the bell rang at zero hour, the energy was absolutely electric.
Nearby.
At Tsuchiko Asian Town, the vibe was more traditional but just as lively, with pop-up markets, street food and famous Sichuan opera face-changing performances running late into the night.
And above the Yangtze and Jianing rivers, the sky became the real stage.
On New Year's Eve, a massive drone performance lit up the area between the two rivers.
Thousands of drones took off from Nanbing Road, forming 3D light patterns visible from the Grand Theatre to the famous Rifle City, turning the riverfront into a massive open-air theatre.
And for those prefer to fire over digital lights.
Suburbs like Tongliang's Qicai Dream Park brought back the heat with molten iron, dragon dances and huge bonfires.
Now let's hop over to Chengdu, where the vibe was a bit more poetic and romantic.
The famous Night Tour of Jinjiang launched a water countdown, drifting on a boat along the river surrounded by light installations and live performances and banks, a truly immersive way to float into 2026.
On land.
The intangible cultural heritage park turned into a fantasy world with their thousand lantern carnival, mixing traditional lantern crafting with modern projection art.
But the biggest spectacular in Chengdu had to be the Tenfu Twin Towers.
Standing over 200 meters tall, these towers serve as massive LED screens.
They ran a vision night.
Over 600 personal messages collected from citizens names, dreams and even marriage proposals were projected onto the towers, turning the city skyline into a giant digital wish list.
From the roaring crowds at Jevon Bay to the quiet wishes glowing on Chengdu skyscrapers, the Southwest ushered in the New Year with style.
For Roundtable, this is Mingying Chongqing.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Happy New Year to you, Ming, and thanks for that report.
Yeah, we talked about Chongqing not long ago when we talked about the L3 autonomous vehicles.
That's one of the cities where they're doing the testing there.
And we talked, if I remember correctly, about its contrast to Beijing in terms of how the city is designed.
Beijing's very flat and Chongqing is very mountainous, so it's a different style of testing for the cars.
Yeah, exactly.
So Chongqing is known for its mountains.
The city basically just built on a mountain.
I think one of the famous thing a lot of visitors would share about visiting Chongqing is that when you enter a building, you think you are on the ground floor.
But when you're watching outside of the window of that building, you found you're actually on the 23rd floor, for example.
Oh, that's funny.
That's funny.
Must be beautiful this time of year.
Lots of events happening there.
And then in Chengdu as well that sounds really pretty the Tianfu Twin Towers, where they'll have those big LED screens and the personal messages and marriage proposals on the screen.
What a romantic way to start 2026.
I think in general during the holiday season, Sichuan Province, which is the home province to the city of Chengdu.
It rolls out a variety of activities to welcome the new year and also to celebrate during the new year's period.
That includes performances, cultural exhibitions, intangible heritage showcase, like Ming mentioned, the face changing folk opera.
I always find that so fascinating.
Me too.
Right?
Like they can just wave in front of their faces and boom, face change to another facial printing.
How do they do that?
I think it's a top secret thing.
Oh, so Chinese people don't know.
You got to learn from the master and be a protege so that they'll teach you.
Have you ever seen that?
Of course, I guess you've seen it live.
I saw it live just one time and I was like straining my eyes.
You know, when you watch a magician do a trick and you're constantly checking both their hands and everywhere, like find out what's going on.
I could not figure out how they change the masks like that.
Yeah, it's very difficult.
I think maybe some documents have tried to reveal part of the secret, but the real trick, you have to find a master and promise you will learn and carry on this tradition.
Very cool. we've covered so many things in so many different parts of the country.
And however you rang in your 2026, we hope you had a great time.
How did both of you ring it in last night?
By the way, stay at home nice yeah, it's always a safe, warm place to be.
Yeah yeah i, i went to buy some flowers because i believe, like fresh flowers will just have the vibe of a new start for a new year, and i believe that's also the habit of a lot of people that you know just go to a flower market and buy some bouquet, and orchids are one of the, i think, top favorite plants that people would like.
I think that was, that was a consumption trend.
We talked about last year too, how orchids were kind of a hot, hot thing to buy in terms of the flower industry.
Yeah exactly, and also i i found a story from inchuan in the region of ningxia.
They, one of the flower bay, said um, their sales around the new year's day have reached About 1 million plants.
And their main supply is only locally, not to other parts of the country.
Impressive.
Well, Happy New Year to everyone.
And again, we hope you had a great time last night, however you celebrated.
And we hope that you're having a great start to it today as well.
It's going to take a little while to get used to it.
2026.
Yeah.
New numbers, right?
They don't exactly roll off the tongue just yet.
