Immersive imperial banquets in China dazzle foreign tourists

(ECNS) -- Cities across China are rolling out immersive imperial banquet experiences that combine courtly pageantry, theatrical performance, and multi-course feasts, drawing growing numbers of foreign visitors.

Guests are dressed as ancient Chinese nobles in traditional costume and makeup, then seated in ornate palace settings. The evening opens with an address by an "emperor" and a procession by an "empress," followed by attendants pouring wine and serving dishes, with song, dance, and martial arts displays between courses.

Basic tickets start at about 200 yuan ($30), with another 100 yuan for costume and makeup and a further 100 yuan for front-row seats. The full package costs about 500 yuan, or roughly $70. "For this entire package of service and spectacle back home, you'd be lucky to tip that much," one traveler said.

Each city adds a local twist. In Luoyang, central China's Henan Province, the banquet is built around Wu Zetian, China's only female emperor, and features Tang Dynasty dress: performers wear red or green ruqun, a traditional blouse-and-skirt ensemble, with floral forehead ornaments, while aerial dance on wires adds to the spectacle. In Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, the banquet spans the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties, and dressing rooms styled as a "Costume Bureau" offer looks ranging from the Twelve Flower Goddesses and the Four Great Beauties to literary figures such as Li Bai, Du Fu, and Su Dongpo, with guests free to choose any persona they fancy. Beijing has a royal cuisine museum whose exhibition halls trace the history of imperial food culture, and its menu features dishes once served to the Qing Dynasty emperors Kangxi and Qianlong.

The food is as much of the draw as the pageantry. A single feast runs to more than a dozen courses, among them braised pork belly, roasted lamb chops, stewed beef, and braised yellow croaker, along with rich soups such as salted pork and bamboo shoot stew or Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. Each serving looks modest, but the steady stream of hearty dishes leaves many foreign guests pleasantly stuffed.

One foreign tourist said, "The Chinese are the most ceremonial people in the world. I knew they pick lucky dates for weddings and must eat dumplings for Spring Festival, but here at the imperial banquet, they even carved the words 'Happy Birthday' in Chinese characters out of carrots on the complimentary noodles!"

A young European woman said she loved traditional Chinese costume but worried she would look out of place in it. A Chinese netizen reassured her: "During the Tang Dynasty, China was already very international, with foreign faces everywhere on the streets. Anyone would look beautiful in our attire."

(By Zhang Dongfang)