2026 Sichuan-Chongqing Spring Festival Gala to Launch with 5,000-Drone Spectacle

Chongqing - The 2026 Sichuan-Chongqing Spring Festival Gala, a televised celebration highlighting the culture and partnership of Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, will air on February 15 at 7:30 p.m. local time. The event was announced yesterday at a press conference in Chongqing, accompanied by a drone light show featuring 5,000 units that formed the gala’s logo over the city skyline.

Titled “Sichuan and Chongqing: One Family, A Joyful New Year,” the gala will be broadcast simultaneously on Chongqing TV, Sichuan TV, and various digital platforms. Now in its fifth edition since launching in 2022, the program has accumulated over 10 billion views across all platforms to date.

This year’s production will feature performances from Sichuan-Chongqing native artists, including singer Tan Weiwei, rappers Bridge and GAI, and folk-pop musician Hailai Amu. Actor Huang Xiaolei will reprise her role as a local teahouse owner, sharing the screen with fans from Sichuan and Chongqing football clubs. The lineup also includes international artists like Laurent Ban, inheritors of Yip Man’s Wing Chun martial art, sports influencers, and displays of intangible cultural heritage, enhanced through AIGC and immersive visual technology.

The gala will be staged across multiple locations: a main venue in Chongqing featuring a 360-degree vertical wraparound screen; an interactive “Joy Street 68” secondary set; a sub-venue in Yunyang, Chongqing, highlighting the area’s prehistoric dinosaur fossils and traditional morning noodle culture; and a special segment filmed in Mabian, Sichuan, showcasing the region’s vast dove tree forests and Yi ethnic customs.

Organizers emphasize the event’s role in promoting regional integration and cultural exchange within the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle. The gala blends international presentation styles with local Sichuan-Chongqing character, aiming to offer both domestic and international audiences a vibrant “screen-based New Year’s feast.”

The pre-show drone display on January 24 depicted not only the gala’s logo but also symbolic images from Yunyang and Mabian, foreshadowing the visual and cultural journey the broadcast promises to deliver.