Story
On 3 March 2026 ¡ª the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month ¡ª close to a hundred thousand people gathered in Sankui Town, in the mountains of Taishun County. Along Guiyan Road, six hundred tables stretched in a single line. At noon, when the loudspeaker announced, "Kai yan!" ¡ª "Start the banquet!" ¡ª sixteen dishes followed, one after another, each carrying a festive wish for the Year of the Horse: "Rising Rice Cake", "Ten Treasures for the Year of the Horse", "Fish for Abundance", "Instant Fortune" and "Golden Horse, Good Fortune".
The banquet has been held for more than eight hundred years. It began as what was known as an "ancestral-hall feast" ¡ª a communal meal for the Zhang family of Zhangzhai Village after disputes had been settled. Over the centuries, the family meal became a community feast, and the community feast became a festival. In 2026, the organisers added a parade: more than fifty performers portraying Wenkui, Wukui and Caikui ¡ª figures representing scholarship, martial prowess and wealth ¡ª led diners to their tables, accompanied by women in traditional She clothing. A 30-stall local-food market organised under the village-CEO initiative sold Taishun pork, red rice and Tengqiao specialities along the street. More than 70 food stalls stayed open from daytime into the night. The event generated more than 6 million yuan in local spending, while livestreams across multiple platforms drew 1.081 million views.
The Hundred Family Banquet is recognised as a provincial-level item of intangible cultural heritage. The dishes are not elaborate banquet fare. They are home-style food: nine-layer cake, mixed vegetables, braised pork, rice cake and fish ¡ª the kind of food villagers cook at home, simply scaled up for 600 tables. The names change with the zodiac year. The cooking does not.
What keeps the banquet alive is not the spectacle ¡ª although the parade, market and livestream are new. What keeps it alive is the idea it started with: a meal shared by people who may disagree, eaten at the same table, on the same day, in the same street. The Zhang family began it as a way of coming together after disputes had been settled. Eight hundred years later, a hundred thousand people still come to eat together.
How to attend: Go to Sankui Town, Taishun, on the Lantern Festival (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which falls in February or March). Tickets are available in advance through local online platforms. Arrive early: the street market opens at 10am, the banquet starts at noon, and the tables fill quickly.