China's biggest televisual spectacle of the year, the hours-long Spring Gala show, is courting criticism because it hasn't included the man best known for playing the Monkey King.
Zhang Jinlai portrayed China's most famous monkey character in a TV series in the 1980s. As the coming Chinese New Year is the Year of the Monkey, his fans across generations thought he would be a natural fit for this year's show.
But state broadcaster CCTV didn't invite him and hasn't said why, causing his fans to take to social media to criticize the omission. CCTV's gala department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment today.
Zhang's agent said that the actor was now making a last-minute appearance in the Chinese New Year concert at the PlayStation Theater in New York instead.
"He had always said that he would be on stand-by and go on the Spring Festival Gala immediately if he was asked to," said Zhang's agent and brother Zhang Jinyan on Thursday. "But he heard nothing from CCTV."
Zhang Jinlai, whose stage name is Liu Xiao Ling Tong, is arguably China's best known TV face because of his starring role in the 1986 "Journey to the West," the first TV production of the supernatural Chinese classic novel about a Monkey King who accompanies a monk on a pilgrimage. It was repeatedly shown in the years that followed.
CCTV's live Spring Festival Gala is China's most watched program and is often mocked for cheesy performances from singing to sketches.
