how the night runs
A Royal Banquet seating, step by step
From check-in to the last rite — what happens, roughly in order, at either the midday or the evening sitting.
Check seatings and price ↗The evening at a glance
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Check-in | The time on your booking confirmation |
| Seated | The room is seated together before the performance starts |
| The six rites | Six staged rites run through the meal, from the opening offering to the closing celebration |
| The menu | A seasonal set menu, a recent one running from Dahongpao tea through to a closing fruit course |
| Optional costume | Hanfu outfit and styling available at the door as a paid add-on |
Check-in, not the show time
Arrive at the time on your booking confirmation rather than the performance's stated start, since the room is seated as a group before the first rite begins.
A room built to look like a court
The hall itself is dressed for the part: lacquered colour and lantern light, built around a stage that runs the length of the room, so the seating already feels like arriving somewhere before anything is performed.
Six rites, six stretches of the evening
The ceremony and the meal are built together — an opening offering rite, a welcome rite, a music rite, a dance rite, a sung theatre rite and a closing celebration rite, each introducing the next course rather than running as background to it.
The menu arrives in step
The dishes change with the season, but the shape stays the same: a recent sitting opened with Dahongpao tea and a sweet course, poured osmanthus-green-plum wine, then ran mains including red-cooked pork with abalone, lychee shrimp balls and steamed wild yellow croaker through to a closing fruit course.
Dressing for it, if you want to
Guests who book the Hanfu add-on go through styling before the meal proper — budget time before your check-in slot if you've added it, since it's handled at the door rather than at your table.
After the final rite
The celebration rite closes out the sitting; there's no second seating to move to afterward, so plan the rest of your evening in Shanghai from there.