自1983年首届春晚，少数民族节目就成为历年春晚的一大特色。马上到来的虎年春晚，这类节目将成为重头戏。

Ethnic minority performances to highlight Spring Festival Gala

The annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala is often considered a joyful occasion with China's 56 ethnic groups well represented in the program. On a recent trip there, Director of this year's gala, Jin Yue gave the thumbs up to the ten backup programs presented by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Ethnic minority performers have made regular appearances at the gala since the very first edition in 1983.

The Spring Festival Gala is the occasion where new year greetings are sent across the country. The inclusion of ethnic performers has endeared the show to people of all ethnicities. In 1983, singer Hu Songhua dedicated a song to people living in the grasslands. Dancing to the song was Mongolian Siqin Gaowa, who later became a well-known star of the small screen.

Performances by ethnic singers have become a regular feature at the Spring Festival gala since 1987.

In the 1990s, the Tibetan and Uygur ethnic minorities made an appearance at the gala. They performed the Tibetan dance "Toward the Sun" in 1992, Mini Opera from Xinjiang "Kelimu Enlists the Army" in 1995, and "Remembrance of Past" in 1998. Ethnic singers Kelimu and Dedema gained national recognition after the gala.

The Mongolian song "Auspicious Trio" in 2006 was one of the best received ethnic songs of the gala. It received second place as audience favorite, and sparked a nation-wide trend to learn Mongolian songs.

The original Tibetan dance Duixie also won second as audience favorite in the 2007 gala. The seventy dancers were local herdsmen from the Xigaze region of Tibet. The four-minute show received thunderous applause.

Jin Yue said that he has his eye on one of the backup programs from Xinjiang. It's a song and dance piece that still needs a bit of revision before the Spring Festival Gala is staged in Beijing.