China's humanoid robots wow CNY crowds with music, wealth advice

Spring Festival a timely occasion for Beijing to flex tech advancements

- Michelle Ng

BEIJING - "How do I get rich this year?" "Will my son's career take off?"

These were questions that Chinese revellers at a recent Chinese New Year temple fair in Beijing asked a Cai Shen Ye (God of Wealth), who was stationed at a booth to dispense advice and lucky sayings.

This traditional deity was, however, no human in a costume, but a life-sized humanoid robot decked out in a red glittering robe, complete with blinking eyes and waving hands.

Other humanoid robots worked the crowd too, including two that performed Peking opera and two with the finger dexterity to play a piano and electric flute.

Humanoid robots, or robots in the shape of humans, have come under the spotlight during the Spring Festival in China this year, a timely occasion for the country to flex its advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.

At the annual Spring Festival Gala, broadcast on Chinese New Year Eve on Jan 28 by Chinese national broadcaster CCTV, one highlight was a troupe of 16 humanoid robots that performed a Yangge folk dance alongside human dancers.

Made by Hangzhou-based robotics company Unitree, the robots wowed audiences in China and overseas with their agility and synchronised dance moves, with netizens marvelling at how advanced they were.

This came just a day after a massive stock market sell-off in the US triggered by news of how Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek had developed an AI reasoning model that reportedly rivalled OpenAI's model but at a fraction of the cost.

Robotics, along with AI, has been emphasised as one of China's core industries since 2016 - a key piece of its broader strategy to outpace the US in AI and next-generation technologies in the race for global tech dominance.

Experts say humanoid robots serve as platforms to showcase advancements in AI, embodied intelligence, robotics engineering and advanced manufacturing - crucial areas in the science and technology race.