During CCTV's four-hour show which typically draws hundreds of millions of viewers, performers appeared on stage wearing outfits that approximated African clothing and had darkened their skin with make-up.

"The New Year Gala director team is just stupid and vicious," said one of a number of users who took to Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform, to criticise the skit.

"Is there any difference between Chinese people doing blackface and white people slanting their eyes to make fun of Asians?"

The gala sparked similar controversy in 2018 over a skit featuring actress Lou Naiming. She appeared on stage in colourful garb, her face and arms coloured brown, carrying a fruit basket on her head and accompanied by someone costumed as a monkey.

Organisations and advocates for Africans in China also criticised the show, which aired on Thursday evening.

"While supporters of the practice allege that blackface centres on empathy & realism, it's difficult to disassociate it from a long history of minstrelsy & fixation on problematic caricatures," Black China Caucus, an activist group, said on Twitter.

"Next year, we hope organisers decide to end this practice & hire some of thousands of black people living in many parts of China."

The show, which this year focused on celebrating Chinese medical workers and the country's space program, has been a television staple since it was first broadcast in 1983.

Australian Associated Press