Feng Xiaogang (left) and Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma (center) attend a press conference for "11.11 Shopping Festival." (Photo : Getty Images)
Any gala worth its salt must have a great director at its helm. So to add grandeur to the magnitude of China's upcoming online shopping festival on Nov. 11, filmmaker Feng Xiaogang will direct an extravagant carnival gala to promote it.
Hunan Satellite TV will broadcast the gala from Beijing's National Aquatics Centre. It will also be made available via online streaming through the Youku Tudou Inc. platform, and will take place a day before the actual festival.
Feng directing the gala was a product of Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma's insistence that he take the job. "'Anyone in your position and social status, could easily ignore, look down upon, not understand or not catch up with the new comers in the film business,'" Feng said, recounting Ma's argument as he was initially reluctant and eventually turned down the offer at first.
"'But when a new director earns billions of dollars at the box office, you'll be surprised and wonder why.'" Ma continued according to Feng. Realizing that Ma was right, Feng took the gig.
The gala will be have an ensemble cast of entertainers such as American Idol finalist Adam Lambert, Korean heartthrob Rain, as well as singers Jolin Tsai and Jane Zhang. Boy group TFBoys will also join the cast. Other stars include swimmer Ning Zetao and Alibaba Music Group chairman Gao Xiaosong.
Feng also aims to go by a "crossover" theme by making the event of Nov. 10 highly interactive, to make viewers feel like they really are a part of the carnival gala.
In 2014, Feng directed the Spring Festival Gala, which was broadcast by CCTV. Suffice it to say he is no stranger to handling such an event.
The shopping festival started in 2009 to promote and give the consuming public a better understanding of the importance of shopping online. The 11.11 Shopping Festival, Singles' Day or "Double 11," began with 27 participating merchants from Alibaba Group's Tmall.com.
JD.com, an Alibaba rival, also holds an online shopping event on the same date.
As proof of how successful online shopping is, Alibaba Group announced that it amassed a whopping $9.3 billion in gross merchandise transactions from the 2014 shopping bonanza.
