China News Service, Beijing, February 17th. Following the 2025 Year of the Snake Spring Festival Gala "The World Gave Me", Faye Wong appeared on the stage of the 2026 Year of the Horse Spring Festival Gala with "The Moment You and Me Experience".
The picture shows Faye Wong’s Spring Festival Gala stage
This song was originally sung by the independent band ZaZaZsu, and its original name was "A Hundred Years of River is Just a Moment You and I Are Experiencing". Before the song was posted, there were only a few scattered comments in the song’s comment section. Within a week after the news came out that Faye Wong would cover this song for the Spring Festival Gala, the number of comments and collections on major music apps surged to over 900.
It seems that every time Faye Wong appears on the Spring Festival Gala, she will bring deep memories to everyone. A few days before the 2026 Spring Festival Gala, just because the IP address of Faye Wong’s makeup artist was displayed in Beijing, the topic related to #Faye Wong Spring Festival Gala was on the hot search. After the program list was released, #fayewangjust needs to take action # quickly became a trending topic.
When Faye Wong steps on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, it always brings back many old thoughts, some of which relate to the times, and some of which reflect the simple emotions between people.
1998: The classic "Meet in 1998" is born
In 1998, Faye Wong stepped onto the Spring Festival Gala stage for the first time and performed "Meet in 1998" with Na Ying. At that time, it was the first New Year Festival after Hong Kong returned to the embrace of the motherland, and the whole country was rejoicing. The CCTV Spring Festival Gala program team carefully planned and hoped to use this song to demonstrate the close cooperation between the literary and artistic circles of Hong Kong and the Mainland.
Director Meng Xin made bold innovations in stage design, abandoning the traditional red tone of the Spring Festival Gala and instead using fresh and refined blue as the main color. Coupled with the dreamy backing of two dancers in a transparent sphere, it left a deep impression on audiences across the country.
Na Ying's strong and steady and Faye Wong's ethereal and ethereal complement each other. The song has both a happy sense of solidity and a distant aftertaste.
Faye Wong's unique "sunburn makeup" at the time paired with the retro yet fashionable "double ball hair" style has also become a beautiful landscape in the millennium. Netizens have expressed that this makeup style is still out of date. The song "Meet in 1998" is still widely sung today.
2010: Faye Wong’s “legendary” return
In the winter of 2002, Li Jian was inspired by Zweig's "Letter from a Strange Woman" and wrote the song "Legend". Unfortunately, no one listened to it at the time.
Eight years later, during the Spring Festival Gala, Faye Wong once again received a program invitation from the director. After many rounds of song selection, she sent a text message to Li Jian, hoping to sing "Legend" on the Spring Festival Gala stage, and Li Jian readily agreed.
In order to match Faye Wong's Spring Festival Gala stage, this song was rearranged. On the stage, Faye Wong's light and gentle performance gave this song new life.
"Just because I looked at you one more time in the crowd."
"When I miss you, you are in my mind; when I miss you, you are in my heart."
…
Even after 16 years, people still can’t help but recall the stage at that time:
That year's Spring Festival Gala, "Legend" announced Faye Wong's official comeback, and also allowed Li Jian to be seen by more people.
2012: Questions and behind-the-scenes of "Because of Love"
In the 2012 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Faye Wong and Eason Chan collaborated on the song "Because of Love".
Faye Wong's voice was not in its best condition at the party, which led to unsatisfactory performance and aroused some doubts.
Many years later, Xiao Ke, the producer of the song, shared the behind-the-scenes story of the song "Because of Love" at the "Time Concert" program.
Faye Wong and Eason Chan were unable to rehearse in the same place due to geographical reasons. Xiao Ke first went to Hong Kong to record for Eason Chan. Since he was not sure of Faye Wong's comfortable tone, he asked Eason Chan to record demos with three different tones.
Later, Xiao Ke went to Beijing to communicate with Faye Wong. Faye Wong expressed her willingness to cooperate with Eason Chan and try to sing the most comfortable tone for him, although this was not easy for Faye Wong.
Despite the flaws in the performance, the song was still loved by the audience. To this day, "Because of Love" is still a popular song for male and female duets in KTV.
2018: The "Years" divas reunite
In 2018, Faye Wong and Na Ying collaborated again to bring the song "Years". This is the fourth time Faye Wong has appeared on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. It is also the first time that Faye Wong and Na Ying are on the same stage after 20 years since "Meet 1998".
From "Meet You in 1998" to "Years", greetings that travel through time and space tell the story of the precipitation and changes of the years, and also evoke the memories of countless audiences.
Composer Qian Lei is good at conveying deep emotions with concise melodies. He has previously collaborated with Na Ying on "Mo", which is highly popular. The first time she heard "Years", Na Ying was touched by the melody and immediately shared it with Faye Wong. The two hit it off and decided to write lyrics together and perform on the Spring Festival Gala stage.
"The clouds are very light, the wind is very light, let the stars float up and down." On the stage, Faye Wong and Na Ying held hands, as if taking the audience back to twenty years ago. What has changed is time, but what remains unchanged is true love.
2025: New Year's breakout song "What the World Gave to Me"
How long does it take to create a hit song? The answer to "What the World Gave Me" is: one hour.
"The world has given me possessions, and it has also given me something in return…" Faye Wong spoke slowly in the 2025 Year of the Snake Spring Festival Gala, and her warm melody softened the hearts of the audience in front of the screen, becoming the most watched song and dance program in the Spring Festival Gala, with a ratings of 34.86%.
Both lyrics and music were written within an hour. The words "giving and giving" in the lyrics are the lyricist Yuan Jing's true insights into life. It took one hour to complete the work. The composer Cao Zhengjie completed the composition in just half an hour.
Faye Wong's strong personal style is equivalent to a second creation of the song, and the singing effect greatly exceeded the songwriter's expectations. Her makeup style that night also made everyone think about it again and again. "Shrimp cracker earrings" and "hairline blush" are popular all over the Internet, setting off a new fashion craze just like in 1998.
From 1998 to 2026, which Spring Festival Gala stage of Faye Wong left you with an unforgettable memory? (over)
