Hong Kong ( CNN ) It was the most-watched TV show in the world -- and it was a sexist mess . That 's what Chinese activists are saying in a petition issued this week that calls for the cancellation of China 's annual Lunar New Year Gala , a state TV extravaganza viewed last Wednesday by 690 million people -- but filled with grating skits mocking women and other minority groups . One sketch depicted an overweight woman in her late-20s complaining about being unmarried . The punchline ? Her brothers bring out a tall , slim female `` goddess '' to help their less attractive sister understand why she 's still single . `` I 've got big eyes , small mouth , a high nose , long legs ... I 'm pretty and a bunch of guys are chasing me that give me 'face ' , '' chants the taller woman . `` I do n't have breasts and a bunch of guys are chasing me to do arm wrestling , '' replies the shorter one . Then , in unison , the duo cheerfully exclaim their respective identities : `` Female goddess and manly woman ! '' In another act , a father jokes about selling his daughter for 30 yuan ( $ 4.80 ) . Another skit mocks a `` female cadre , '' implying that she 's used sexual favors to advance her career . Other parts of the show rag on southern Chinese people as well as dwarfs . In a society where women still face significant challenges — from discrimination against girls to extreme pressure on women to marry early -- many watchers found the performance nauseating . A widely-circulated petition called the show `` poisonous '' and demanded it to be taken off air . `` In the name of 'harmony ' it erases the rights of people to live differently . It complacently slanders not just women ... but all people , as long as you are eager to think critically and make decisions out of your free will , '' it said . The petition racked up thousands of signatures , many of them by self-described feminists , before it was removed from the Internet . ( CNN was able to access a cached version . ) But some posts by feminists remained uncensored on Weibo , China 's public social media platform . `` Comparing 'manly women ' and 'goddesses , ' unmarried and unemployed women ... what qualifications do you have to discuss these topics ? '' one highly-rated comment fumed at the show 's producers . `` Why do n't you discuss male losers ? The fact that these skits were shown on the Gala is truly a national humiliation . '' The same writer added : `` We 're not proposing that women rule over everything . We just want awareness of how women are discriminated against everywhere , and we want change . '' CNN 's Serena Dong contributed reporting .
Comedy skit in China 's Lunar New Year Gala TV show mocked overweight , unmarried women . Feminists called for show 's cancellation in online petition , which was later removed from the Internet . China 's Lunar New Year Gala was watched by 100 million people this year .