Baogong Park, Hefei’s most prominent Song-dynasty cultural landmark, will host the 2026 Yangtze River Delta (Hefei) Hanfu Carnival from May 1 to May 4, 2026, under the theme “New Colors, New Scenes, New Guochao Visions.” The four-day program will layer immersive hanfu processions, a holographic phantom theater, a waterside guofeng stage, and a Luzhou-storytelling performance on top of the park’s existing baogong cultural programming.
Baohe Park sits at the historic core of Hefei’s Song-dynasty memory, named for the Northern Song official Bao Zheng. For the 2026 carnival, the park operator has doubled down on the “traditional culture plus immersive experience” formula that drove attendance in prior years, and added two new anchor experiences: a park-wide immersive holographic phantom theater and an immersive “water banquet” dining show. The intent is to convert what is normally a one-hour cultural stop into a half-day experience in which the hanfu procession, the holographic story, the lakeside music, and the storytelling are all stitched into a single visit.
Three Hanfu Processions Across May 1, 2, and 4
On May 1, 2, and 4, the south bank of the Bao River inside the park will host three themed hanfu processions. The May 1 procession, “Leisurely Refined Pursuits,” foregrounds the slow-culture side of Song life — tea, incense, painting, and quiet conversation. The May 2 procession, “Spring in Full Bloom,” tilts the mood toward festive and youth-coded hanfu styling. The May 4 procession, “Marketplace Smoke and Fire,” leans into the everyday street-life aesthetic of the Song capital. Each procession will feature first-look appearances by the lead characters from the park’s two new immersive shows, who will walk the route and pose for visitor photos. Visitors who collect a “jiaozi” token at each procession checkpoint can exchange the tokens for discount vouchers for the holographic theater or the water banquet.
Waterside Guofeng Stage on May 3
On May 3, the waterway from Fuzhuang pier to Baogongci temple will be converted into a floating guofeng stage. Live guzheng, classical dance, and hanfu-clad performers will take the stage against the lake and the original Song-era Baogongci roofline as backdrop. The May 3 program is the carnival’s most photographable set piece, and is being positioned as a daytime counterpart to the processions on the other three days.
On the same day, the Fuzhuang pier and the Quyuan Luzhou boat banquet launch a special “Luzhou Boat Banquet — Mr. Zhang’s Park Adventures” storytelling session. The format combines cultural-quiz interaction, story reveals tied to the park’s two new immersive experiences, and a small gift giveaway. The boat-banquet venue doubles as a ticketed dining experience, with the storytelling performance bundled into the meal service.
How to Plan the Visit
The carnival’s four-day structure lets visitors pick a focus. Procession-focused visitors should target May 1, 2, or 4. The lake-stage show and the boat-banquet storytelling are both May 3 only, and require either a boat-banquet reservation or a lakeside viewing spot. The holographic phantom theater and the immersive banquet show run across all four days, with discounted entry for visitors who collected enough jiaozi tokens from the processions. Combining any one procession with the May 3 stage show and one of the two new immersive experiences is the operator’s recommended full-day route.