we are joined now by david mckenzie who is in the chinese capital.and a big part of the celebration in china is what goes on tv, the tv extravaganza. >> reporter: that's right. in the u.s. you might all gather to watch the super bowl. in china everyone watches the gala on cctv. this is a four and a half hour marathon of a review show. mostly song and dance but chinese opera and comedy. very patriotic and often propaganda but is it a mainstay of the chinese new year and watched by more than 700 million people. so it really is, you know, the whole nation tuning in. either loving it or hating it. but it's part of the tradition here as they kick off the new year which officially gets going at midnight and the fireworks start ringing out. >> it looks like a lot of fireworks since you bring it up. what is the breakdown on the fireworks? >> well you know, every year at midnight at the start of the lunar new year you have a massive explosion of fireworks throughout china particularly in the big cities. you can see behind me pollution is bad today. officials

david mckenzie is following the story live in the chinese capital. to have you with us. so we've heard about fireworks celebrations from new york to beijing all around the world. what is the significance of the year of the rooster? >> reporter: well, the year of the radios sister means we're entering the zodiac symbol for those born in this year, it comes an every 12 years. if you are a rooster, meaning you're born in the year of the rooster, then you are punk chew als popular and generally well liked. you mentioned the fireworks. it's a bit different than fireworks you might see in other capitals around the world because many of those you see are just let off by private citizens. you can go to a place to get fireworks from a stand or from side of the street and let off these industrial amazing fireworks. i remember when i first moved to beijing, they were bursting right outside our apartment window and not as much of worry about safety here on that front. they have been trying to curb the fireworks because of the pollution in beijing, but that certai

cnn's david mckenzie joins us live from beijing. vid, are chinese officials afraid of a trade war? >> well, they definitely are afraid of a trade war, cyril. they're taking this wait and see approach right now. the editorials have largely been holding back a little bit, not necessarily pushing the envelope when it comes to donald trump, the new u.s. president who has in the campaign and in the lead-up to his inauguration threatened at least to raise tariffs substantially on chinese goods going into the u.s. it's the most important bilateral trade agreement on earth. and any kind of trade war say economists could severely affect the economies of both countries. i spoke to someone inside government meetings in the lead-up to the inauguration who said there is serious concern of that here in china. they say they are happy to have negotiations on trade. there have been trade spats before between the two countries. what they're not happy with is if there is any sense that the trump administration will bring taiwan into that discussion, th