Red Theater

Global internet celebrity 'hyperthyroidism brother' walked into Shaolin Temple with live streaming footage to learn martial arts and interact with Master Liang Xiaolong, once again drawing attention to Chinese kung fu. Henan's martial arts culture has a long history and profound accumulation. It has emerged as a kung fu boy from Tagou Martial Arts School and has gone from the Spring Festival Gala to the world stage; There are also many disseminators like Liang Xiaolong, who are using martial arts to tell the stories of Henan and China today.

On April 5th, Zhang Hu, who had just led the team to finish the performance task at Shaolin Temple scenic area, hurriedly took a few bites of food and began browsing the performance schedule for the next few days. "There's nothing we can do, the more holidays we have, the heavier our performance tasks will be. Fortunately, after so many years, everyone has gotten used to it," he said.
As the coach of the art performance troupe of Henan Shaolin Tagou Martial Arts School, Zhang Hu, who has been practicing martial arts for 30 years, has accompanied the team's growth and personally witnessed the 22 year continuous bond between Shaolin Kung Fu and CCTV Spring Festival Gala.
From a Glimpse at the Martial Arts Festival to a Regular Guest at the Spring Festival Gala
Turning the clock back to the 20th century, in 1999, at the Zhengzhou International Shaolin Martial Arts Festival, the ten thousand person team gymnastics "Shaolin Heroes" from Tagou Martial Arts School shook the audience with overwhelming momentum and attracted the attention of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala directing team for the first time. This "electric shock" also allowed Liu Haike, the Party Secretary and General Coach of Tagou Martial Arts School, to keenly seize the opportunity: "Martial arts must go global, and the Spring Festival Gala is definitely the best window
With this belief, in September 2000, Liu Haike came to Beijing with the martial arts program "Chuang Shan Men", but was eliminated in the first round due to "lack of New Year flavor". After returning to Dengfeng, Liu Haike posted a prominent sign in the office that read "I want to attend the Spring Festival Gala" as a way to encourage himself. Subsequently, Tagou Martial Arts School invested hundreds of thousands of yuan to form a special team to create around the "zodiac culture". The team spent three months repeatedly revising the 17th version of the plan to design the "Chinese Zodiac Worshiping the New Year" that combines childlike innocence and martial arts essence. On January 31, 2003, 12 young people from Tagou appeared on the Spring Festival Gala stage with the playful image of "Tiger Baby Wishing New Year". Shaolin skills such as tiger jumping, spinning, and somersault were perfectly integrated with zodiac elements, creating an innovative paradigm of "martial arts+folk customs" in the Spring Festival Gala program.
In that year, Zhang Hu stood out from nearly ten thousand students at Tagou Martial Arts School and became one of the 12 lucky ones to appear on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. From the anxiety during the program review to the relief after the performance, Zhang Hu still vividly remembers his feelings at that time. He smiled bitterly and said, "Who would have thought that for the next 20 years, every Spring Festival, I would have to go through such a spiritual 'hardship'
From excavating connotations to unlocking new paradigms of martial arts culture
The debut of the Spring Festival Gala of "Celebrating the Chinese New Year with the Twelve Zodiac Animals" laid the foundation for Tagou Martial Arts School to adhere to the essence of martial arts and innovate presentation forms, which has also become the inspiration for the annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala martial arts program. After becoming the coach of the performance troupe in 2004, one of my most important jobs every year was to provide material content for the martial arts program of the Spring Festival Gala. According to Zhang Hu, from June to July every year, they start to provide materials for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala directing team from the aspects of "zodiac culture", the yet to be explored connotations of martial arts, and the difficulty of team innovation movements. Finally, through repeated practice and adaptation, both sides provide exciting martial arts programs for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala the following year.
Huang Xin, who is 19 years old this year, has participated in 5 CCTV Spring Festival Gala performances. His debut was the program "Shaolin Soul" which broke the record for the number of participants in the 2019 CCTV Spring Festival Gala. On the blue martial arts arena, 20000 students interpreted Chinese characters such as "spring" and "fortune" through formation changes. Creative arrangements such as human walls and towers showcased the grandeur of Shaolin martial arts. Especially when the 6000 square meter Five Star Red Flag formation appeared, it became a shared emotional point for Chinese people worldwide. As soon as the program was broadcasted, it sparked a global discussion. Overseas media praised it as an epic performance that pushed Chinese Kung Fu to a new aesthetic height. The program ultimately set a world record for the "largest scale martial arts program performance" with nearly 1 billion online views.
Huang Xin said that it was the performance that shook their hearts the most. Over the course of several months, 20000 people worked hard towards the same goal. "In order to achieve 'zero mistakes', during the final sprint stage, everyone rehearsed continuously for 20 days in the cold wind of minus 7 ℃. It is said that more than 3000 pairs of sports shoes were damaged just by running.
From Kung Fu Kid to Cultural Ambassador
Over the past 22 years, Tagou Martial Arts School has participated in various forms of CCTV Spring Festival Gala programs, including martial arts dramas, group exercises, and microfilms, and has won the Audience Favorite Program Award 5 times in total. What is even more noteworthy is that these performances have become an important window for the world to understand China: in 2022, the program "Milk Tiger Roaring Spring" exceeded 50 million views on overseas social media in a day, and the American media CNN believes that the program "redefined the narrative of Chinese martial arts". In response, Liu Haike said, "The Spring Festival Gala is not only a stage, but also a cultural bridge between Shaolin Kung Fu and the world. What we pass through Wushu is the spiritual core of Chinese people's self-improvement."
Lei Huadong from Zhejiang and Zhu Pengwei from Sichuan experienced the unique charm of Shaolin Kung Fu through the stage of CCTV Spring Festival Gala. We all came here to learn martial arts when we were seven or eight years old and saw the martial arts programs in Tagou. "The two said that from mischievous children to hardworking and disciplined members of the performance troupe, their more than ten years of study in Tagou have taught them what responsibility is and what it means to take on responsibilities.
Every year, the brilliance of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala martial arts program cannot be separated from the hard work of these students. Take building a tower as an example, hundreds of ups and downs have caused many people's hair to wear off, but for the sake of the program effect, everyone has no complaints. "Zhang Hu, who participated in the design of multiple Spring Festival Gala programs, said that all the students participating in the programs have undergone high-intensity training time and time again. The only thing that makes them frustrated is that sometimes they cannot step onto the stage of the Spring Festival Gala due to injuries. Zhang Hu said, "Every innovation in the program is a reinterpretation of traditional culture, and these young people have given vitality to the martial arts era through their efforts
From Traditional Kung Fu to Integrating Intangible Cultural Heritage Elements
As one of the most familiar "faces of the Spring Festival Gala" to global audiences, Tagou Martial Arts School, which has appeared on CCTV Spring Festival Gala for 22 consecutive times, is also constantly showcasing the profound cultural heritage of the Central Plains through innovation. From the early version of "Top Gun" to the recent "Battle for Spring", they have integrated Shaolin martial arts with intangible cultural heritage elements such as Eight Section Brocade and opera to promote the creative transformation of traditional culture. For example, the 2024 program "Inspiring Dragon Soaring" combined traditional dragon dance with martial arts equipment and received praise from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for "revitalizing ancient skills".
Standing on the stage of CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Tagou Martial Arts School has proven for 22 years that Chinese martial arts is not only the inheritance of skills, but also a carrier of cultural confidence. As Liu Haike said, "Every appearance we make at the Spring Festival Gala is a contemporary annotation of Chinese civilization, and as cultural inheritors, we make Shaolin martial arts an important symbol of Chinese civilization. In the future, we will continue to use martial arts as a medium to let the world hear the voice of China