Music TV show ignites cross-Strait connection

With an astounding viewership and garnering nearly 8.7 billion online engagements, Infinity and Beyond 2023 — a music cultural program — has emerged as a resounding success in the first half of this year, according to the statistics released during a recent a seminar hosted by the National Radio and Television Administration.

The latest and third season of the Infinity and Beyond franchise, consisting of 12 episodes, was broadcast on Hunan Television and streamed on Mango TV from March to July, generating massive online attention with 8.6 billion views of topics related to the show on the popular social platform Sina Weibo.

Featuring more than 40 singers, including pop diva Na Ying and singer Jeff Chang, the show traveled to six iconic sites in Taiwan, such as the Sun Moon Lake, re-rendering a total of 100 classic and popular songs dating back to the 1970s.

Aside from being broadcast domestically, the show has also been released in 195 countries and regions, according to the People's Daily newspaper.

Hu Defu, as a representative of the participating singers in the show, said that music serves as a bridge, enabling individuals to express their innermost feelings and form connections with one another.

Also known as Ara Kimbo, the iconic singer who is hailed "the father of Taiwan folk songs" added that the program has enhanced the cultural exchange between Chinese mainland musicians and those in Taiwan, igniting emotional resonance among people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and conveying shared values of common origin and connected heritage.