The poster for Chinese Neo Folk's Evening Photo: Courtesy of Youku

The performance of China's lion dance Photo: Courtesy of Henan Satellite TV

It comes again! The Chinese Neo Folk's Evening produced by Henan Satellite TV, Chinese streaming site Youku and Xiami Music on Tuesday night, the eve of "Little New Year," usually a week before the Chinese Lunar New Year, has become a hit due to its mixture of China's traditional opera genres from Nanyin, an ancient Chinese folk music art form originated from East China's Fujian Province, to Yueju Opera in Zhejiang Province and modern art forms like folk, hip-hop, electronic and even reggae. 

The show continued the TV station's effort and creative ideas in boosting China's traditional culture among young audiences just like past hit programs like the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala and popular show Dance Millennium featuring the country's richness of dance culture. 

Behind the success are the innovative minds of internet age from the cooperation between Henan TV and Youku. "From Qixi to the Mid-Autumn festivals and then to the New Folk Music Night, both of us are working to improve the form, content and the way of how to promote the show among young audiences," Ji Zhongxing, general manager of Youku Variety Content and R&D Center told the Global Times during a telephone interview on Monday. 

First of all, the whole arrangement of these galas didn't follow the traditional ways. Instead, they were arranged in more like short music videos in the length of three to five minutes presented with narrative storytelling, "which produces a new experience for the audiences." Then more cutting- edge technology like CG was widely used. The most important is the prediction "that we knew it would work." 

The success of making China's traditional culture alive in the internet age that we are living now has led to a new ecosystem in which traditional media platforms like TV and radio stations and China's booming streaming sites can work together. 

Xu Na, director of All Media Marketing Planning Center of Henan Radio and Television Station, sees it can produce the result that is greater than two,which simply one plus one can do. 

"With the advantages of our two platforms, we can present Chinese culture differently in terms of publicity and program design," she said. 

Both Ji and Xu shared the mutual goal of making the Chinese festival series "bigger and stronger," and even develop into a new industrialized IP series. 

Since the beginning of 2022, Henan TV launched a new style and arrangement that is centered on a New National Style and Trend, which it has insisted working on for years, hoping to promote China's excellent traditional culture.