The "2025 Mid-Autumn Poetry Festival", co-organized by China Media Group, the Ministry of Education, and the National Language Work Committee, will premiere on CCTV-1, CCTV Video, and CCTV.com at 17:50 from October 5th to 7th; and will be broadcast on the Science and Education Channel (CCTV-10) at 20:51.
CCTV Mid-Autumn Poetry Festival Poster
According to information obtained by a reporter from The Paper from the program team, the "2025 Mid-Autumn Poetry Festival" continues the theme of using poetry to sing about the Mid-Autumn Festival and using the bright moon to express the longing for family reunion. For the first time, it will be held in two places, Jinan, Shandong and Shihezi, Xinjiang respectively. Through the remote echo between the regions, the program has achieved the sublimation from festival culture to family and country feelings.
The Jinan section, through three sub-themes: "Paintings of Magpie Flowers," "Autumn Moon over Minghu Lake," and "Impressions of the Spring City," showcases the Mid-Autumn Festival charm of the Spring City from the perspectives of historical context, natural scenery, and modern life. The Shihezi section, drawing on the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, incorporates military reclamation culture, ethnic unity, and the spirit of the new era into the poetry gathering. By connecting these two cities, a cultural canvas of "Eastern Rhythms and Western Styles Converge at This Moment" is constructed.
Expressing feelings through poetry about the moon
Guests: Poetic reading, warm interpretation
This year's Mid-Autumn Poetry Festival invited three teachers, Kang Zhen, Yang Yu and Li Bo, to serve as guest commentators, and they will serve as "poetic readers" throughout the program.
Kang Zhen, professor at the School of Literature, Peking University
Li Bo, professor of the School of Literature at Nanjing Normal University
Professor Kang Zhen excels at connecting historical allusions with real life. For example, at a poetry gathering in Jinan, he explored the cultural connection between Zhao Mengfu and Jinan, drawing on the creative context of "Autumn Scenery of Quehua." Professor Yang Yu's interpretations emphasize emotional resonance, drawing on the theme of Mid-Autumn Festival reunion to explore the human touch and life-affirming qualities of poetry. Professor Li Bo, considering the dimension of time, resonated ancient Chinese odes to the bright moon with the contemporary festive atmosphere.
Notably, in the Shihezi section, teachers Kang Zhen and Yang Yu transformed into "models" in the situational drama "Moving to a New Home," vividly recreating the lives of employees at the Bayi Cotton Textile Mill in the 1980s. This immersive experience not only enlivened the atmosphere but also made the interpretation of poetry more vivid and tangible. They interpreted "fashionable windbreakers made of home-grown cotton" using the rhyme of Bai Juyi's poem, "The wind blows the fairy sleeves, and they flutter." The poem vividly echoed the struggle of Shihezi's cotton textile industry from humble beginnings to its thriving prosperity.
Players: Diverse combinations, warm competition
This year, the contestants continued to compete in pairs. The six groups of contestants covered a variety of relationships, including grandfather and grandson, couples, brothers and sisters, father and daughter, classmates, etc. The age range ranged from second grade of elementary school to retired elderly people, and their professional backgrounds included farmers, police officers, students, oil field workers, etc.
The story of the "Peaceful Years" father-daughter duo was particularly moving. Zhang Baoguo, the father, was the former deputy chief of the Jinan Public Security Bureau's Special Police Detachment. He dedicated 25 years to bomb disposal and handled over 130 bomb scenes. His daughter, Zhang Rujia, inherited her father's legacy and became a police officer. During the program, the father and daughter demonstrated their rapport through a poetry quiz, and the verse, "May we live long and share the beauty of the moon, even though we are thousands of miles apart," conveyed the hope of reunion amidst the unique context of their profession.
According to the program team, the selection of contestants for this Mid-Autumn Poetry Festival focused on authenticity and representativeness. The program team selected typical combinations from the many registered families to ensure that each contestant can represent a certain group or a certain family relationship.
Program: Technology empowers, dialogue between ancient and modern times
The "2025 Mid-Autumn Poetry Festival" achieved multiple breakthroughs in both program content and presentation, most notably its deep integration of technology and culture. In the Jinan segment, the program team presented an innovative interpretation of Zhao Mengfu's "Autumn Scenery of Quehua," immersing viewers in the artistic conception of the ancient painting in real time through virtual reality technology. The future landscape of the Queshan Ecological and Cultural Zone, still under construction, was also previewed through virtual reality technology, creating a spatial and temporal dialogue between classical poetry and modern urban living.
“Poetry in Painting”
In Shihezi, Xinjiang, the production team brought the Shihezi Food Street and intangible cultural heritage shops to the event. The hosts and guests experienced the vibrant life of Shihezi. The famous "Bamao" cold noodles, a fusion of flavors, embodied the hard work of the first generation of military settlers from across the country who came to Shihezi to create their own path. The sweetness of fruit, the aroma of barbecue, and the ingenuity of intangible cultural heritage products allowed the audience to experience Shihezi's transformation from a desert to an oasis.
In the program, inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and artisans from various trades infused traditional culture into their crafts with their ingenuity and passion. Paper-cutting artists used dancing scissors to conjure the leisurely scene of "picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence," while pancake flower artisans used paper-thin pancakes to create the splendor of "blooming flowers in the capital." A dish of "Sweet and Sour Yellow River Carp" evoked the historical allusion of Li Bai's "a dot on the forehead cannot make a dragon." A Shandong-style mooncake, "Grape Soft Moon," evoked the delicious flavor of Su Shi's "small cake, like chewing the moon, with a mixture of crisp and sweet."
Title: Regional Characteristics, Fusion of Ancient and Modern
This year's Mid-Autumn Poetry Festival's selections reflect a vision that bridges the past and present, blending Eastern and Western perspectives. The program covers classic works from the Book of Songs to Tang and Song poetry, while themes encompass traditional genres such as moon chanting, homesickness, landscapes, and frontier fortresses, while also incorporating innovative content related to intangible cultural heritage and folk customs. Particularly noteworthy is the program's in-depth exploration of poetry related to Shandong and Jinan, bringing regional culture to the forefront of poetic interpretation.
In addition to on-site quizzes, real-world quizzes also serve as a crucial link between poetry and reality. Teacher Kang Zhen posed a quiz by the Yellow River, combining the rainbow imagery of a bridge with the depiction of the Yellow River in poetry. Jinan landmarks like Daming Lake and Baotu Spring echoed the relevant poetry, making the natural landscape a living teaching material for poetic interpretation. The Shihezi section focused on the dialogue between history and reality, from the "Hundred-Knotted Clothes" at the Military Reclamation Museum to the dugouts of the First Company of the Military Reclamation. Through real objects and scenes, the audience experienced the passage of time while tracing back to cultural roots, and grasped the hardships of Shihezi's rise from a barren desert and the difficulties of its development.
Stage: Landscape conception, poetic space
This year's Mid-Autumn Poetry Festival's stage visual design centered around the theme "The Yellow River Flows from Heaven," cleverly blending the natural landscapes of the two regions with the cultural imagery of Mid-Autumn Festival. The main stage form draws inspiration from Queshan Mountain, Huashan Mountain, and the Yellow River flowing between them. The floor is designed to resemble a winding "river channel," complemented by a wave effect created through virtual reality technology, showcasing the magnificent intertwining of mountains and water.
The virtual visual system constructs a landscape space based on the "Autumn Scenery of Quehua"
Technology remains a key highlight of this year's stage design. The virtual visual system, based on the poem "Autumn Scenery of Quehua," creates a highly imaginative landscape space. The artistic conception of lines like "The bright moon shines among the pines, clear springs flow over the rocks" is visually represented through dynamic imagery, creating a three-dimensional presentation of the poetic atmosphere. This allows the audience to experience the warmth of reunion and, under the bright moonlight, appreciate the sentiments of family and country.