A highly promoted Chinese New Year's gala by Hunan Television in
central China has been canceled due to the rare and persistent
blizzard.
Heavy snow has been preventing performers from reaching
Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province and where the television
station is based, resulting in a call-off of the star-studded show
scheduled for Thursday night, Sohu.com quoted station officials as
saying.
Stars invited included Hong Kong singer-actor Nicholas Tse,
Taiwan singer Fei Yu-Ching, Super Girl champion Li Yuchun and actor
Wang Baoqiang.
Hunan Television has spent several million yuan in preparation
for the event, the report says.
Hunan is among the most plagued areas in the current nationwide
snow havoc. The province is suffering from its coldest winter in
half a century, which has greatly affected transportations and
daily lives, stranding railway passengers, closing airports, and
causing power shortage.
Beijing-based China Central Television is scheduled to hold its
highly expected New Year's gala on February 6. So far no
information is showing that the bad weather will impact CCTV's
event.
This year's lunar New Year falls on Feb. 7.
(CRI January 29, 2008)