Robot Greetings as Shanghai Students Return for Spring Semester

Caption: Provided by Luwan Special Needs Education School Affiliated to East China Normal University, Shanghai Jinshan World Foreign Language School. Edited by Yang Meiping. Subtitles by Yang Meiping.

Shanghai's 1.82 million primary and secondary students started their 2026 spring semester today.

Following amazing performances by robots at the annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala last month, some schools welcomed students back with robot greetings.

At the downtown Luwan Special Needs Education School Affiliated to East China Normal University, robots greeted students at the gate and performed dances during the new semester opening ceremony.

Meanwhile, at the suburban Shanghai Jinshan World Foreign Language School, students delivered presentations on their explorations into artificial intelligence.

Super short semester

According to the calendar issued by the Shanghai Education Commission, schools in Shanghai will end this year's spring semester on June 30. Coupled with public holidays such as Qingming Festival, May Day holiday and Dragon Boat Festival, the actual number of school days is around 82.

The 18-week semester is super short as a common term in China is between 19 and 22 weeks, with on-campus days ranging from 95 to 110 days.

Experts explained that the shorter semester occurs in specific lunar years. Due to the intercalary lunar June in 2025 and the late arrival of Spring Festival in 2026, the spring semester didn't start until late February or early March. But the start of summer vacation is basically fixed for early July.