Full coverage: International Children's Day

Among the cast for CCTV's Children's Day gala are 2,000 schoolboys from a martial-arts school in Shandong Province.

The Laizhou Martial-Arts School is a perennial favorite at CCTV galas, having appeared several times before at the Spring Festival Gala.

Vigorous rehearsals are underway, including the "Mighty Boys" section, with forms of combat named after animals - the monkey, the snake, or the mantis.

The Laizhou Martial-Arts School is a perennial favorite at CCTV galas.

"Martial arts give boys something masculine. They feel they have strength to display their will, to accomplish their dreams," said Lu Qin, education expert.

But there are, of course, challenges to mounting a performance on this scale.

"Students of each group will face their own difficulties - for example, running on the back of other students. Because kids' backs are not as hard as adults', the students stepping on their back tend to slip and fall down," said Wang Wenzhao, director of Art Troupe of Laizhou Marial-Arts School.

Students in Shandong Province prepare for Children's Day gala.

It's also hard for the choreographers, who must prepare for aerial shots, arranging the two thousand students into 21 circles seen from above.

To see the schoolboys in action, tune in to CCTV-1 on the night of June the 1st.