Evening - the dinner theatre
Xi'an has kept a dinner-theatre tradition of Tang music and dance since the late 1980s, and the longest-running houses in the city have performed most nights for more than three decades. Tables are set around a stage, service pauses when the orchestra begins, and the programme runs about an hour and forty minutes including the meal - the two things Xi'an does best in a single room, with no travel between them. You are collected from the hotel at about quarter past five so that there is time to settle at the table before the first piece, and the evening finishes around half past nine, which leaves the whole of the next day free.
The performance and where it comes from
What you hear and see is a modern reconstruction, and it is worth being clear about that. The sources are real enough: Tang poems that describe dances and instruments, the wall paintings of Dunhuang, the small number of surviving Tang pipa scores, the court ritual manuals, and the tomb figurines excavated around Xi'an - among them the camel carrying a band of musicians, which is the standard image of a Tang ensemble. The instruments are copied from those sources: pipa, konghou harp, bili shawm, bamboo flute, sheng mouth organ, drums and chime bells. The programme normally includes the Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Coat dance associated with Xuanzong; the Sogdian whirling dance described by Bai Juyi in 809; a sword dance in the tradition attributed to the performer Gongsun; and the victory music of the Prince of Qin, which was later renamed for the dynasty's seven virtues.
The dumpling banquet
The meal is a jiaozi yan, the Xi'an dumpling banquet: eighteen kinds served in courses from cold through steamed and boiled to a final miniature pearl dumpling in broth. The shape changes with the filling - goldfish, duck, butterfly, walnut - and the point of the banquet is precisely the variety of form applied to a single idea, which is a Xi'an habit rather than a Chinese one. A smaller set menu is available if eighteen courses sounds like too much, vegetarian and halal versions can be arranged in advance, and the kitchen will tell you which fillings are in front of you as each course arrives.
Cultural Insight - foreign borrowings at the Tang court
Tang Chang'an was a city of visitors, and its music was the clearest evidence: the court orchestra of the eighth century included Central Asian instruments, Indian and Sogdian repertoires, and dancers from the oasis states along the Silk Road. The whirling dances are the best surviving example in Chinese poetry of something imported and made fashionable by the court, and they are also a useful corrective to the idea that this was a self-contained culture - the Tang was confident enough to borrow, and most of what it borrowed came from west of the passes. The evening is at its most interesting when you watch it that way rather than as a piece of unbroken tradition.
Practical notes
The performance is a staged reconstruction rather than a continuous performance tradition, and the exact programme varies by house and by season, so treat the list of pieces as indicative rather than guaranteed. Seating, the theatre and the repertoire are confirmed when you book. A shorter version without dinner can be arranged for guests who have already eaten, and children are welcome - the acrobatic and dance sections hold their attention well. Guests who want the music explained in detail can ask for a guide with a background in Chinese music, which we will arrange if you mention it at booking.
Meals
Dinner
Accommodation
Day tour - no hotel night included.
