\u201cToo handsome! Aren\u2019t they handsome,\u201d the actor Ju Zhaojie cooed as dozens of soldiers, from an honor guard of the People\u2019s Liberation Army, stamped off the stage, issuing earsplitting shouts.<\/p>\n
By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW
\nFEB. 10, 2016<\/p>\n
BEIJING — “Too handsome! Aren’t they handsome,” the actor Ju Zhaojie<\/a>cooed as dozens of soldiers, from an honor guard of the People’s Liberation Army, stamped off the stage, issuing earsplitting shouts.<\/p>\n They had just been featured in “The General and the Soldier,” a 14-minute skit in the annual Lunar New Year’s Eve TV gala<\/a> broadcast across China<\/a> on Sunday to mark the start of the Year of the Monkey. CCTV, the state broadcaster, said about a billion people in China and around the worldwatched it<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Chunwan,” or Spring Late, as it’s colloquially known — referring both to “Spring Festival,” an alternate name for the Lunar New Year, and to the four-and-a-half-hour program’s 8 p.m. start time — is a cultural institution here. The show has been aired every year since 1983.<\/p>\n No New Years Gala (#\u6625\u665a<\/a>) can be complete without a heavy dose of ethnic unity! #CCTV<\/a> #chunwan<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/j53hPyoxZr<\/a><\/p>\n — Timothy Grose (@GroseTimothy) February 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n