Amid the online buzz surrounding the Oct. 11 announcement of Mo Yan’s Nobel win, many netizens predicted that he would make an appearance at next year’s CCTV Spring Festival Gala.
The gala, broadcast nationwide on the eve of Chinese New Year, is China’s biggest television event, a glitzy annual tradition dating back to 1983.
A CCTV department responsible for the Spring Festival Gala responded tersely to the speculation on Oct 15.
“At the moment, there is truly no way to answer this question,” said spokesperson Ma Xing. “The programming group will make no reply whatsoever.”
Photo: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
As incongruous as it may seem, the appearance of a Nobel laureate on a song-and-dance show would hardly break new ground for Chinese television viewers.
In addition to a wide range of guest stars from the worlds of music and cinema, many national heroes and newsmakers have appeared on the CCTV gala in years past.
Yang Liwei, China’s first man in space, was featured as a co-host of the Spring Festival Gala in 2004, wishing viewers a happy new year while holding a Chinese flag.
In the years since, China’s astronauts have made numerous appearances at the annual gala.
But in spite of the online chatter, not everyone was excited by the prospect of seeing Mo Yan on the gala stage.
“Let the old man have a relaxing Spring Festival at home,” one netizen pleaded the state-run broadcaster, according to the Jiangsu newspaper Xin Kuaibao.
With or without Mo Yan, the thirtieth annual Spring Festival Gala will usher in the Year of the Snake on the evening of February 9, 2013.
Less than two weeks after Mo Yan’s win was announced, the author continues to be commemorated in unusual and at times controversial ways.
Officials in the writer’s hometown in Shandong province last week announced a plan to spend 670 million yuan (US $107 million) to develop Mo Yan-themed tourism in the region.
The town of Gaomi aims to build a country club and museum to commemorate Mo Yan, in addition to planting 667 hectares of sorghum, a plant associated with one of his most famous novels.
Gaomi’s mayor has called upon the city to create a “‘Mo Yan’ brand and stress the ‘Mo Yan’ factor,” according to a statement on the Gaomi government website.
The news has brought widespread criticism of the local government’s eagerness to cash in on their native son. The Global Times panned the sorghum project, with an editorial calling Gaomi officials to task for their lack of consideration for the taxpayers who would foot the bill.