A scene from the first rehearsal for the 2025 Spring Festival Gala in Beijing.

On December 4, 2024, "Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional New Year," was officially inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year, is the most important celebration for the Chinese people. It is a time for families to gather, welcome the new year on the lunar calendar, and embrace reunion and renewal. The 2025 Spring Festival falls on January 29, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake.

As a vital cultural feast during the Spring Festival, the annual Spring Festival Gala, broadcast on China Central Television on New Year's Eve, holds deep cultural significance. It encapsulates the essence of Chinese culture and wisdom, making it a celebrated cultural emblem of China.

The tradition of celebrating the Spring Festival has been passed down through millennia. Emerging alongside celestial calendars and solar terms, this ancient festival has been enriched and evolved through generations.

Over 1,400 years ago, Zong Lin, a scholar from the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–581), described the Lunar New Year's Day in Jingchu Suishiji, a record of holidays in central China during the sixth and seventh centuries. He noted that the first day of the first lunar month signified a new day, a new month and a new year.