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A 15-year-old dancer who twirled for four hours onstage as part of China's televised
New Year gala has ignited controversy online, with some criticising her performance as "cruel".
Wei Caiqi, the niece of Chinese dancing star Yang Liping, was the designated "time girl"
at the annual China Central Television (CCTV) gala, which aired on January 30. Clad in a
flowing white gown, Wei spun nonstop on a special stage to represent "the passing of
time and the changing of seasons", the state-run China Daily newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Many people took to China's popular social networks to raise concerns before, during
and after the performance. "What else can it be called except cruel?" wrote one user
on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter. "For me, any sense of beauty has been completely
replaced by a feeling of disgust." "A 15-year-old girl spinning there for four hours, to this
I can only say it is sick, a perversion of values," wrote another. One user wondered:
"Who can tell me the point of her four-hour spinning?" The programme itself is estimated
to have been watched by 704 million viewers and Wei was one of the most-searched topics
on the nation's social networks in the days following the gala. In a message posted on
her Weibo account days ahead of the gala, Wei addressed the scepticism of her planned
performance, which she described as a type of "meditation". "Some people say it's cruel
to have me spin for four hours on the gala, but actually it's a sort of spiritual practice
for me," she wrote. She added: "It's a way of challenging my limits, like those who climb
Mt Everest, just to see if one can do it. I thank God for giving me the gift and offering
me a platform to let me clean my soul." CCTV's annual gala is a tradition in China, where
families have gathered to watch its lineup of dancers, singers and comedians since the
programme's debut in 1983. This year, it featured French actress Sophie Marceau, who performed
Edith Piaf's signature song "La Vie En Rose" in a duet with Chinese pop star Liu Huan.
But Chinese rocker Cui Jian, whose music encouraged the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protesters
and who was in talks to perform on the show, was not featured. The Beijing News daily quoted
his manager as saying he had refused to "change the words" of his songs.