Robot dogs dressed in festive costumes performed a traditional lion dance at Beijing’s Temple of Earth on the first day of the Chinese New Year, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports.
Chinese Spring Festival, or Spring Festival, began this year on the night of February 17 (7:00 PM Moscow time on February 16). According to the Chinese calendar, it marks the beginning of the Year of the Fire Horse, which will end on February 5, 2027. The long holiday weekend in China this year began on February 15 and will last until February 23.
On the first day of the New Year, it is customary in China to attend “temple fairs,” or “miaohui,” which are usually held on temple grounds or in nearby parks. Furthermore, in China, the first five days of the new year are considered a time for gatherings. Relatives, friends, classmates, and coworkers visit and congratulate each other on the New Year, exchanging gifts.
Early Tuesday morning, thousands of Beijing residents took to the streets to watch the traditional festive lion dance. The traditional festival opened at the Temple of Earth, located in the northern part of the city, on Tuesday. Performers in colorful lion costumes entertained spectators with acrobatic stunts and dances to the beat of drums and cymbals. This year, the “performers” included robotic dogs dressed in festive lion costumes. According to traditional beliefs, the lion dance wards off evil spirits and attracts good luck. The iron dogs demonstrated the achievements of Chinese robotics to the audience, standing on their hind legs and jumping to the beat of the music.
At the fair, in addition to robotic dogs, humanoid robots were also on display. They congratulated guests on the Spring Festival and also performed on stage alongside real people. Robots are gradually becoming an indispensable attribute of Chinese New Year celebrations. This year’s New Year’s Gala on China Central Television featured a large number of robots, performing comedy skits and dance routines alongside live actors.
Robotics, particularly the development of humanoid robots, is rapidly developing in China. In January 2026, Chinese media reported the opening of China’s first humanoid robot training facility in Shanghai. This center will train robots from various industries to perform a variety of tasks, and the collected data will be shared with developers to further optimize the robots’ intelligence.
In April 2025, the world’s first joint human-robot half marathon was held in the Chinese capital, with 20 humanoid robots participating. In August, the first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games were held in Beijing. As previously reported by the Haibao Xinwen portal, humanoid robots, along with monks from the Shaolin Monastery in central China, conducted a kung fu lesson, and the machines’ movements were almost as good as those of humans.
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