Business leaders gathered in London on Monday for a special event to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, where a promotional video for the 2024 China Media Group (CMG) Spring Festival TV gala was unveiled.

The "Icebreakers" 2024 Chinese New Year celebration, jointly hosted by the 48 Group Club, the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK and the China-Britain Business Council, came ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, which falls on Saturday this year.
The event saw a promotional trailer for the CMG's Spring Festival Gala, which will be staged Friday. Held annually on Chinese New Year's Eve since 1983, the variety show is the most-watched annual television broadcast in the world.

Jack Perry Jr., president of the 48 Group Club, said the gala offers a platform into learning more about Chinese culture and promoting cultural exchanges between the two sides.

"I've seen it (the Spring Festival gala) on TV, I believe it's beautiful. You look from everything that China has done from the Olympics and forward. China knows how to put events on and the world can take notice. I think it's very important. I think when it comes to culture, sport, anything entertainment-based is a good start to be able to put messages underneath. You can learn through things if you're smiling and if like me and you are smiling right now, you can actually talk and learn from each other and have an understanding of how each other think. And I think that's important," said Perry.

In 1954, Jack Perry, grandfather of Jack Perry Jr., also the founder of the London Export Corporation, led a group of 48 British businessmen on a historic trade mission to Beijing. This helped create one of the first modern-day trade links with China, effectively breaking the U.S.-led Western embargoes on the newly-founded People's Republic of China.
The 48 men were the founders of the 48 Group Club. Their landmark first trip to Beijing was known as the "Icebreaking Mission," with the club members being referred to as "Icebreakers."