Recently, CCTV announced the official mascot for the “2025 Spring Festival Gala”, named Si Sheng Sheng. Professor Gao Peng, the Dean of the SFD, led the faculty and student team in designing the mascot. Wu Mian, Wu Yixuan, Chen Hejia and Zhao Zihong were responsible for the mascot’s origin and related design work, while Gong Shuai and Chen Yiting handled the derivative product design, with Liang Xu overseeing project management.

The 2025 Year of the Snake mascot draws design inspiration from Chinese traditional culture, with its overall shape referencing the oracle bone script character for “snake”. Tying into the 2025 Spring Festival Gala theme “sisi ruyi, shengsheng buxi” (wishing everything as desired, life continuously flouring), “Si Sheng Sheng” conveys a compelling sense of good fortune. Its head silhouette and cheek spirals are inspired by a Tang dynasty silver-guilt Ruyi from Famen Temple in Shaanxi, with decorations from bat motifs on the head to longevity characters on the tail ribbon, symbolizing “Blessings from the start, wishes follow to end”.

The features of Si Sheng Sheng also have historical origins; the eyebrows and eyes are derived from the feather and subject patterns on a bronze snake artifact unearthed at the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan. This subject pattern also appears widely on bronzeware and jade objects in the Central Plains area, showcasing the integration and inclusiveness of Chinese civilization. The mascot’s body features cloisonne work depicting intertwined branches on its back, signifying “continuous life”, and filigree inlay work of begonia, magnolia, peach blossoms, and peonies, symbolizing “spring returning to earth”.

Si Sheng Sheng is primarily in shades of aqua green, symbolizing vibrant spring vitality, with colour palette choices including parrot green, jade green, Tuosilk blue, lapis lazuli, lotus white, tangerine yellow, and dragon wax red, all traditional Chinese colours.

The release of this mascot has garnered significant attention from all sectors of society, with detailed coverage from major media outlets including People’s Daily, Xinhua New Agency, Qiushi Magazine, Guangming Daily, China Daily and Southern Daily.