Shi Zheyuan and Crostars Take the China’s Got Talent 2019 Grand Prize
On October 20, 2019, China’s Got Talent wrapped its sixth season. After twelve competitive rounds, Shi Zheyuan and the Crostars team won the title of Annual Talent Champion. The season also posted the highest average same-timeslot ratings of any season to date.
A One-Vote Margin at the Season Finale
The finale came down to the last count. After votes from 120 media and audience judges, plus four Dream Observers, Shi Zheyuan and Crostars entered the final round against one other act. The result: 136 votes to 135. A single vote separated the winner from the runner-up.
The performance that clinched it featured 700 drones forming the Chinese national flag in the night sky. It became the standout moment of the entire season.
The Performance: Desert, Drones, and a 70th Anniversary Tribute
For the finale, Shi Zheyuan moved the performance location to the Gansu Desert — more than 3,000 kilometers from Shanghai. The show combined drone formations with sand dune projection mapping, traditional pipa music, and molten iron sparks. It was a significant step up from his earlier appearances in the competition.
The drone count also increased. The 700-drone formation from the preliminary round was upgraded to 1,000 for the finale. Shi Zheyuan explained the theme directly: “2019 happens to be the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
We wanted to use technology to send our most sincere wishes to our country.”
He also admitted the pressure was real. The unexpected reaction to the preliminary performance raised the bar. He said going into the finale he felt the weight of that.
What the Judges Said
One judge described the experience this way: “His preliminary performance already blew me away. I didn’t expect today’s show would still deliver this kind of visual impact.”
Shi Zheyuan responded by committing to more: “In the future, we will use more advanced technology to create even more stunning performances. Let more people see the progress of Chinese technology. Let the world see the beauty of what we can do.”
The Technology Behind the Show
Crostars was founded by Shi Zheyuan in 2016. At the time, drone formation performance was almost entirely uncharted territory in China. Early progress was slow. But the team kept developing. By 2019, their takeoff error rate had been brought below 0.1%.
Positioning precision is a core part of what makes their shows work. Standard GPS carries a 2 to 3 meter margin of error. Crostars’ inter-drone positioning reaches millimeter-level accuracy. That precision allows hundreds of aircraft to fly in close formation without collision.
The C5 drone model, developed in-house, includes an automatic parachute system. If a unit loses power mid-flight, the parachute deploys and the drone descends slowly. The system protects both safety and hardware recovery. The company’s overall failure and incident rate is held below 1 per thousand. Learn more about the C5 on the C5 System page.
Where Crostars Stands Today
Winning China’s Got Talent was a public milestone. It brought Crostars to a national audience. But the company’s position in the market has been built on sustained technical development, not a single TV moment.
Today, Crostars holds over 30% of the drone performance market in China. The company operates at scale internationally, with major shows completed in Thailand, Japan, and across Southeast Asia. Shi Zheyuan is direct about where he sees the competitive edge shifting: “The technical gap between players is narrowing. Who goes further depends on who can break through in business model and service content.”
If you want to understand what Crostars brings to a show beyond the drone count, visit the About Us page. To discuss a performance for your event, contact us directly.