Robot performance at China’s Spring Festival Gala triggers online backlash

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long used the Spring Festival Gala as a cultural megaphone, projecting an image of technological prowess and national pride to both domestic and international audiences. This year, however, the spectacle of “autonomous robots” performing on stage has backfired spectacularly. What was marketed as a dazzling showcase of cutting-edge artificial intelligence turned out to be little more than a high-tech puppet show.  

On February 17th, videos began circulating online that revealed the truth: behind every robot was a human operator, remotely controlling the machines like shadow puppets. The choreography, hailed as evidence of China’s robotics supremacy, was nothing more than pre-programmed sequences triggered by manual commands backstage. One clip even showed a robot waving to the crowd while a man stood nearby, hands clasped around a remote controller. The illusion of autonomy collapsed instantly, and outrage spread across social media platforms worldwide.  

The scandal is not just about a faked performance it is about the CCP’s broader strategy of manufacturing illusions. For years, China has sought to position itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence and robotics. The Gala’s robot performance was meant to symbolize this ambition, projecting an image of unstoppable progress. Yet the reality is far less glamorous.  Blue Whale News had previously exposed similar tricks in the robotics industry, where companies assembled cheap aluminium frames, programmed basic movements, and boldly marketed them as “fully autonomous” robots. The Spring Festival Gala simply scaled up this deception, turning it into a national spectacle. The CCP’s reliance on such staged performances reveals a deeper insecurity: the need to convince both its citizens and the world that China is technologically invincible, even when the evidence suggests otherwise.  

Adding insult to injury, Unitree Technologiesthe company behind the Gala robotsquickly capitalized on the publicity. On the very morning the scandal broke, its customer service announced that the same model robot, the G1U2 advanced version, was available for purchase online at a staggering price of nearly 30,000 USD. Yet buyers soon discovered the robots were clumsy and unreliable. One viral video showed an American customer instructing his robot to cook, only for it to spill food on the floor, drop its ladle, and slip on the mess.  

This commercialization of deception highlights the CCP’s willingness to blur the line between propaganda and profiteering. The Gala was not just a cultural eventit was a marketing campaign disguised as national pride.  



Beyond the robot scandal, the Gala itself has been criticized for losing its cultural soul. Mainland citizens lamented that four hours of programming failed to produce a single laugh. Younger generations, especially those born after 2000, expressed nostalgia for the warmth and innocence of past celebrations. Fireworks have dwindled, human connection has faded, and now even the Gala feels like it is being performed for machines rather than people.  

On overseas Chinese-language platforms, netizens described the Gala as “the most disgusting one in history,” calling it a “commercial advertisement disguised as a stage.” Others mocked the obsession with robots, suggesting that if the trend continues, soon both the performers and the audience will be robots.  

The scandal also has geopolitical implications. Public records show that Unitree Technologies was founded in 2016 and specializes in civilian robots. Yet in May 2025, the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition demanded investigations into the company’s ties to the Chinese military and its role in “military-civil fusion.” The Gala performance, therefore, was not just entertainment, it was a carefully orchestrated piece of propaganda meant to showcase capabilities that may have military relevance.  

The exposure of the hoax undermines the CCP’s credibility at a time when global scrutiny of its technological ambitions is intensifying. Instead of demonstrating innovation, the Gala revealed desperation: a government willing to deceive its own people and the world to maintain the illusion of progress.  

This incident fits into a broader pattern of the CCP’s governance stylewhere appearances matter more than substance. Whether it is economic statistics, infrastructure projects, or technological breakthroughs, the emphasis is often on spectacle rather than reality. The Spring Festival Gala robot scandal is simply the latest example of this strategy unravelling under the weight of public scrutiny.  

The outrage that erupted online is telling. Citizens are increasingly unwilling to accept staged illusions as reality. The Gala, once a unifying cultural event, has become a symbol of disillusionment. The CCP may have intended to inspire pride, but instead it provoked ridicule and anger.  

Conclusion  The Spring Festival Gala robot performance was not a celebration of innovation but a carefully staged deception. It exposed the CCP’s obsession with appearances, its willingness to exploit propaganda for commercial gain, and its disregard for the cultural authenticity of the festival itself. The scandal has left many questioning not just the robots, but the credibility of the government that orchestrated the show.  In the end, the Gala’s robots did not represent the future of technology they represented the future of illusion. And illusions, once shattered, are difficult to rebuild. 

Sources: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/robot-performance-spring-festival-gala-hoax 

https://www.reuters.com/technology/china-robot-gala-scandal-exposed-2026-02-17

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-robot-performance-fake

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/world/asia/china-spring-festival-robot-hoax.html