Spring Festival Gala 30-year retrospective

Comedy duo Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao debut at 1984 Spring Festival Gala.

For over 30 years, CCTV's Spring Festival Gala has entertained viewers all over the world while leaving behind some fond moments.

New Year's Eve of 1984, the second CCTV Spring Festival Gala hit the stage. After the success of the first gala, the show brought back more celebrities to its line-up. But, it was the first time that CCTV extended its invitation to include stars from China's Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as Chueng Mingmin, who impressed the audience with the famous song "My Chinese Heart".

"It's hard to imagine a single song can be sung for three decades. The Spring Festival Gala is one place where it's possible. I'm grateful to the gala, and to the song 'My Chinese Heart'," Chueng said.

1984 also saw the debut of comedy duo Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao. Their sketch "Eating Noodles" brought laughter to billions of audiences. Overnight, a new comedy genre at the gala was born and soon became an indispensable part of the annual extravaganza.

Chinese traditional operas however traces its roots all the way to the first year of the gala. One song that quickly became a household name nationwide was "Liu Hai Cuts Firewood", a "Flower-Drum Opera" by Li Guyi and Jiang Kun.

"Jiang Kun was a quick learner. He almost learned the tune in one day. But the most memorable thing was he couldn't find his shoulder pole, a prop, before the show," Li said.

"I though someone must have prepared it for me. But two programs before mine, I asked about the pole, and they told me I should have prepared it myself. But no one said anything about that," Jiang said.

"I was scared. I don't know anything about the prop. And time was running out," Li said.

"I rushed to the boiler room and found a broom by the coal dump. But I couldn't get rid of the brush end of the broom. I kicked and kicked and finally got the stick before going on stage," Jiang said.

"We went abroad in 1985 and the Chinese people there were very happy to see the performance. It reminded them of China," Li said.

"'Liu Hai Cuts Firewood' had been sung for 6 decades before and our show made it a country-wide popular song. Li Guyi taught me to sing it," Jiang said.

"Through Spring Festival Gala, a good song can be quickly popularized. That's the power of the gala," Li said.

The success of the 1984 gala also became a fashion trend-setter. New styles and dresses from the gala could be seen over all the streets. Xu Jing has been the General Make-up Artist for the gala over the years and she remembers when she first started learning from a Hong Kong artist in 1984.

"Chen Sisi brought her own make-up artist whose skills attracted me very much and I learned a lot from her. For example, one should stop drinking water after 8 o'clock in the evening to use a higher pillow so that she might avoid swelling eyes in the next morning. They were very professional," Xu said.

Another innovation of the 1984 gala is the closing song "Unforgettable Tonight". The song gave the usually animated ending a more lyrical touch and went on to become an unforgettable part of the gala for many years to come.