A humanoid robot dance shown on China’s Spring Festival Gala on 16 February 2026 has reached over 23 billion views in just three days.
The Gala, aired by China Media Group on Lunar New Year’s Eve, is one of the country’s biggest television events. Several Chinese robot companies presented robots performing alongside human dancers. The robots did kung fu-style moves, flips, spins, and carefully timed jumps. Viewers were amazed by how steady the robots looked and how well they kept their balance.
By 18 February, the show’s clips and replays had spread across many apps and websites inside China. Reports said the programme had an average of hundreds of millions of viewers watching at the same time, with even higher peaks during the most exciting moments. Online, people also watched huge numbers of live and on-demand videos, helping the total climb quickly. Almost 2,000 different topics about the Gala trended, showing how much people were talking about it.
Some researchers say the performance showed China’s growing strength in making advanced robots. Others think it could make the public feel more hopeful about new technology and encourage faster use of AI. Still, experts warn that a stage show is carefully rehearsed and programmed, so it does not prove robots can handle messy, unpredictable real life yet.
