China's Lunar New Year TV gala sparks criticism for ‘plagiarism’, targeting women
This year’s gala programme derided on social media for outdated humour, with some viewers saying the annual event should be axed
Unoriginal, dull, misogynistic and tone-deaf - this sums up how some members of the public reacted to the mainland's television event of the year.
CCTV ran its New Year's Gala on Wednesday night, a 4-1/2-hour mix of singing, dancing, magic routines and comedy acts that attracted an estimated 690 million viewers.
But there was a backlash on social media to some of the content, especially sketches that made fun of women, mainlanders with a strong southern accent, and people who are overweight and short.
By yesterday afternoon, the topic page "scoffing at Chunwan" - the shorthand name of the show in Putonghua - had drawn more than 9 million views and 26,000 comments on Weibo.
"This year's Lunar New Year's Gala is the worst I have seen in my 20 years of life. Even my mum says it was particularly boring," one microblogger said.
Many viewers singled out one sketch - "Joy Street" - which starred a slender, fashionable, good-looking woman, and a shorter, more plain-looking woman. "I look beautiful. A bunch of guys surround me, which makes me 'gain face'," the first says. The other woman laments: "I am numb. A bunch of guys surround me only to arm wrestle with me."