Spring Festival gala's spinning girl causes a stir

Wei said that she has had a great interest in dancing since she was little. Yang has invited tutors to teach her at home and Wei has never gone to school, spending most of her time learning dancing and touring with Yang. In 2010, she was admitted to study at Beijing Dance Academy.

She started performing on the stage at 5 years old and played roles in Yang's dance dramas, such as Impression of Yunnan and Yunnan Sound. In 2012, she twirled for nearly two hours during Yang's dance drama Peacock.

However, due to the tight schedule of the Spring Festival Gala, Wei's last scene, in which she stopped twirling at the end of the show was cut out, which received complaints from Yang, the famous dancer and choreographer.

"I feel grateful for the skill of twirling and this opportunity to perform at the Spring Festival Gala," Wei said in a post on her Sina Weibo account, which now has more than 800,000 followers.

Her performance at the Spring Festival Gala has become one of the hottest topics online. After the show she returned with Yang to her home in Dali, Yunnan province.

The CCTV Spring Festival Gala, which was launched in 1983, is an annual variety show aired on the eve of Spring Festival, China's biggest traditional festival. For years, the gala production team has been trying to seek a fresh angle to retain viewers.

For the first time in 30 years, Feng Xiaogang, a noted film director, was invited to helm the gala. The all-star team also includes veteran comedian Zhao Benshan as vice-director, and veteran actor-director Zhang Guoli as the gala's artistic consultant and one of the four hosts.

The gala also invited international stars, such as French actress Sophie Marceau, who performed La Vie En Rose with Chinese singer-songwriter Liu Huan, and South Korean actor Lee Min-ho.

According to a survey by major Chinese Internet portal Tencent, nearly 30 percent of the gala's viewers said they were "satisfied" with this year's show and around 60 percent expressed disappointment.