DISHING UP DYNASTIES

From the Tang to the Song, immersive restaurant performances turn Chinese history into a multisensory feast, Yang Feiyue reports.

The lantern light flickers, casting dancing shadows on stone as a woman in elegant, flowing silks in the style of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) glides forward to greet guests at a palace-like restaurant in Jianou city, north of eastern Fujian province.

She recites a welcome in ancient verse before leading them through a luminous tunnel that evokes a feeling of traveling back in time to Jianzhou (established prefecture), Jianou's historical name a thousand years ago.