ENTERTAINER: Wang Yifei, a 5-year-old boy drummer, prepares to perform at the alternative Spring Festival gala (GUO JIN)

Peter sat playing the drums in front of a horde of cameras, with his audience captured by the passion with which he beat out a strong mellow rhythm. After a short show of his talent, he walked over to a photographer and began making funny faces into the lens.

Peter is the English name printed on the business card of a 5-year-old Chinese boy called Wang Yifei. A few days ago his mother took him from their home in Tianjin to Beijing to rehearse for a Spring Festival gala.

"I saw the advertisement for performers in the local newspaper and I happen to have a talented son who is perfect for the show, so here we are," she told Beijing Review.

Among the audience was the initiator of the show Shi Mengqi, a 37-year-old man from Sichuan Province. Shi, who runs his own business in Beijing, came up with the idea for the show with friends in late November. He hopes his show will rival the official entertainment, which has been shown on China Central Television (CCTV) for 25 years on the eve of the Spring Festival.

"The official Spring Festival gala has lost its charm with Chinese audiences due to a lack of innovation. It pays too much attention to familiar faces of celebrities," noted Shi.

"I know there are many ordinary people who have special skills, so why not offer them a chance to show what they can do," he said. His main target audience is migrant laborers and students who stay in Beijing rather than visiting their parents during the annual holiday due to various reasons.

Huge response

Shi's do-it-yourself version of the Spring Festival gala is widely known as the shanzhai version. The Chinese word shanzhai literally means small mountain cottages, but is used to describe copycats of genuine products. It has also evolved into a term for things "grassroots."

In the beginning, Shi put up a notice on his blog to solicit performers for his "shanzhai" show. Within a few days, he had received a huge response, with hundreds of singers, dancers, cross-talkers, acrobats and actors offering to perform.

The do-it-yourself gala seems to have caught the interest of a certain section of the Chinese public.

Ma Changjiang, 32, who works as a security guard in Beijing, is also a poet and singer in his spare time.

"I learn about the grassroots Spring Festival gala in the newspaper and at that moment I had nothing in my mind but one thought: it is made for me!" noted Ma, who used to be a farmer in Hebei Province. After missing the application deadline, he traveled to Shi's office to ask for a second chance.