This year, China Media Group’s (CMG) annual Spring Festival Gala variety show, celebrating the advent of the Year of the Snake, featured the usual line-up of song and dance routines, operatic and acrobatic feats, comedic skits and cross-talk routines, as well as segments touting the achievements of the military, the tech sector, and various geographical regions of China. Online discussion of the Gala, now in its forty-third year, was focused on a number of topics: the dearth of non-Han Chinese performers, an AI-powered choreographed dance routine featuring humanoid robots, the many skits that suffered from abrupt endings and “lack of closure,” and the bland “prefabricated” bullet-screen comments on Bilibili’s Gala livecast. (For more coverage of past Spring Festival Galas, including translated censorship directives, please see CDT’s archive of Spring Festival Gala content.)
“Bullet-screen” comments (弹幕, dànmù, literally meaning "a barrage") originated on Japanese video-sharing sites and rapidly became popular in China. They appear as a stream of comments, purportedly in real-time, scrolling across the screen from right to left, sometimes obscuring the video that is being commented upon. Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili is particularly known for its danmu comment function, beloved among Bilibili users for allowing them to interact with one another and fostering a sense of community. Thus the excitement about Bilibili’s announcement that it would be live-streaming the 2025 Gala on its platform—and the subsequent disappointment when Bilibili users realized that the comments streaming across their screens were canned “prefabricated” comments, likely written by Bilibili staffers rather than actual audience members.
CDT Chinese editors have archived two articles about what it was like to watch this year’s Gala with the new ersatz onscreen comments. A WeChat article titled “‘Prefab’ Bullet-Screen Comments for Spring Festival Gala Signal a Lack of Confidence,” from blogger Mu Qi, was highly critical of the use of pre-vetted (or very likely fake) comments on Bilibili’s broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala. The author points out that it completely undermines the point of live on-screen comments, and shows a lack of “cultural self-confidence” on the part of the broadcaster:
I watched the Spring Festival Gala again this year, just like I have in years past.
I had planned to write about some of my post-viewing impressions, but then I remembered that even before the Spring Festival holiday, the relevant departments had issued repeated warnings not to “over-exploit” topics such as the Spring Festival Gala or Spring Festival-related movies and TV shows.
So whenever the urge to comment arose, I swallowed it down.
For example, I said nothing about that skit starring Shen Teng and Ma Li—just when you thought the story was reaching its peak, it ended on an abrupt note.
Although I hadn’t planned to comment, something that the Spring Festival Gala director said provoked a desire to express myself.
She said, "We have tried our very best, and we hope that our audience will be a bit forgiving.”
I think that statement is much too self-effacing, because during this year’s Spring Festival Gala, the audience is literally not allowed to be “unforgiving.”
Take, for example, my personal experience watching the Spring Festival Gala on Bilibili.
On a screen filled with comments, there wasn’t a single “unforgiving” comment, only high praise.
Even the [frequently panned] skits received rave reviews.
Later, I did some research and discovered that these bullet-screen comments were actually "prefabricated."
There were dozens of bullet-screens with exactly the same content, scrolling across the screen over and over.
[The commenters’] individual user IDs have now been replaced by the words "place-name" + "netizen.”
When I tried to send out a random critical comment, it didn’t even show up on screen.
The so-called "Spring Festival Gala bullet screen" isn’t interactive at all, and it’s been completely overshadowed by tech and AI.
Later, I searched on Weibo and found out I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.
A lot of netizens who watched the Spring Festival Gala live broadcast on Bilibili weren’t able to see the comments they’d sent on screen, or weren’t even able to send them at all.
You couldn’t even send a simple question mark.
All of the comments shown on screen were positive reviews.
Also, the international version of Bilibili has completely done away with interactive functions like bullet-screen comments and Q\&A, although you can still send gifts [“digital red envelopes”].
A few years ago, Douban disabled ratings for the Spring Festival Gala, so people were no longer allowed to rate the show.
Now, Bilibili has taken that a step further by denying you the opportunity to be “unforgiving.”
What’s more frustrating is that you can’t turn off the bullet-screen comments even if you want to, so you’re forced to watch a barrage of “prefab” onscreen comments.
Bilibili later explained that its use of these comments was a response to the "regulatory pressures" of live broadcasting. In order to ensure a smooth broadcast, the platform said it would use the prefabricated comments to avoid potentially sensitive and controversial content.
Bilibili’s explanation was very good, if you agree that “good” means only allowing “good” comments.
[…] As an early Bilibili user, I watched everything from "Jinkela" [a fertilizer advertisement that spawned many memes] to "The [poisoned] chicken soup’s ready!” [a memeable, slapstick portion of a TV-show episode].
Now, ten years later, the core spirit of Bilibili has undergone a huge transformation.
That’s understandable, given that the platform’s founder sold his shares, and it’s only natural for a listed company to become more commercialized and profit-driven.
But I have no appetite for this new fare they’re offering; this so-called "innovation" fills me with mixed emotions.
Bullet-screen comments are the essence of Bilibili.
Many people watch Bilibili just for the excitement, authenticity, and humor of the comments.
But now it appears that future bullet-screen comments may be artificially generated.
The comment sections of Weibo and Douyin are already swamped with AI-powered “water armies” [i.e. bots and sockpuppets].
Will other platforms such as Bilibili follow suit?
[…] This year’s Spring Festival Gala is the first since the Gala made UNESCO’s Intangible World Heritage list.
Logically speaking, we should be more culturally confident.
I sincerely hope that in addition to having confidence in our "bullet-screen comments,” we can consider other ways to express and promote national self-confidence.
It’s just like what [TV pundit and scholar of international relations] Zhang Weiwei once claimed about China: "We can talk about anything we want. No topics are off-limits.”
Now that would be true self-confidence. [Chinese]

A screenshot shows vague, repetitive comments such as “Hahahaha” and “How cute!” during the generally well-received “Borrowing an Umbrella” operatic performance.
A WeChat article from the film-and-television focused blog Xia Meng Screening Room talked about what it was like to witness, for the first time, these prefabricated bullet-screen comments. The author focuses on the use of danmu as a core part of Bilibili’s platform culture, and bemoans what the rise of bland prefabricated comments will mean for the online sense of community:
The audience share for this year’s Spring Festival Gala hit a ten-year record high of 39.1%.
Having watched the whole thing from beginning to end, I have to say that I thought this year’s show was pretty good. Although the skits were as crappy as ever, I was pleased to find that there was a lot less “preaching,” a lot more content about traditional culture, and the quality of the song and dance numbers were greatly improved.
The only displeasing thing about the 2025 Spring Festival Gala—something I groused about from beginning to end—were the bullet-screen comments on Bilibili.
This year, Bilibili bought the live broadcast rights to CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. This was the first time that Bilibili broadcast the annual cultural gala live, and the first time since Bilibili’s founding 15 years ago that the social media platform has been part of the Gala. It even promoted the slogan, "Watch the Spring Festival Gala with 300 million other young people!"
I was really excited when I heard about this, so on Lunar New Year’s Eve, I logged into the Bilibili homepage at 8:00 p.m. on the dot, looking forward to trying out the combo of Gala watching + real-time bullet-screen commenting. But I hadn’t expected that all of the evening’s real-time comments would be “prefabricated.” The experience was so awful that it kind of pissed me off.
[…] The show that I’d been so looking forward to was flooded with prefab comments.
Put it this way: seeing all that canned commentary on Bilibili’s Spring Festival Gala broadcast straight-up sucked.
There are reasons why we like to post real-time bullet-screen comments on Bilibili:
First, it gives us the chance to interact in real time. By posting bullet-screen comments, I can communicate with other viewers. This interactivity makes me feel more closely connected to the Spring Festival Gala, and heightens the sense of participation and social interaction—but only if the audience is made up of real people! It doesn’t work if the comments are preselected snippets of text written by some copy editor.
Also, danmu culture makes the experience of watching videos more interesting, like you and the other viewers are inhabiting the same moment.
With prefabricated comments, even if they’re scrolling across the screen supposedly in "real-time,” their robot-like templates simply cannot replicate the joy of true interaction.
Second, danmu culture promotes a social atmosphere within online communities.
Bilibili’s user base is mainly young people, especially Gen Z and Millennials. The content and community atmosphere on the platform is geared toward the needs and interests of young people, which encompasses cultural trends, progressive ideas, and various online subcultures.
Not only can Bilibili users watch videos, they can also interact and take part in discussions, which fosters a unique sense of community.
When it bought the broadcasting rights for the Spring Festival Gala, Bilibili promoted the slogan, "Watch the Spring Festival Gala with 300 million other young people!" And that’s what they did, but for the many people (including me) who showed up to try it, the prefab bullet-screen comments left us feeling frustrated and duped.
[…] At any rate, after experiencing those canned comments this year, I definitely won’t be going back to Bilibili to watch the Spring Festival Gala next year. Because who wants to start the New Year feeling sick to your stomach? [Chinese]

A screenshot shows some of the dull, anonymous bullet-screen comments, along with one comment (circled in red) that seems skeptical.
Jiangxi netizen: This is great!
Hubei netizen: Um, are these the right comments?
Cold, bright: This is great!
Shandong netizen: I’m so proud!
Hebei netizen: Happy New Year!