A Date Night at The Song of Everlasting Sorrow: Best Showtime, Best Seats and What to Do Afterwards

Putting The Song of Everlasting Sorrow into a date itinerary is a bargain: Mount Li as the backdrop, Nine-Dragon Lake as the stage, and the story of Emperor Ming of Tang and Consort Yang, so the atmosphere comes without you having to build it. Yet it also has three ways to ruin a date — pick the wrong showtime and you wait outside doing nothing, buy off-centre seats and the two of you cannot see the whole thing, and if the show ends too late you then have to agonise over whether to return to the city. This article arranges things around those three points.

1. Best Showtime: Choose a Night Scene

The Song of Everlasting Sorrow normally runs 1–4 shows a day, the first around 18:30 and the last around 22:45; the exact start times and how many shows run that day are subject to the live showtimes on the booking page, and peak season may add shows.

How to choose a showtime for a date:

• If you want to see Mount Li at night, take a middle or later showtime — once the sky is fully dark and the mountain lighting is all on, the atmosphere is thickest;
• If you want to sit down to a proper dinner first and then go in, a later-middle show is more relaxed, so you are not chewing while watching the clock;
• The last show is the cheapest, at the price of ending late, which means accommodation must be arranged in advance (more on that below).

2. Seats: Front-Facing Central Is the Safest

For two people travelling together, the seat advice is:

Zone	List price range	Advice for couples
Central	¥369 – 409	Faces the main stage head-on; side by side the immersion is strongest
East-West A	¥289 – 339	Fine even on a limited budget; the sides do not affect the view
East-West B	¥249 – 299	Choose this if you want to save

For a date I would put the budget squarely into Central: facing the main stage head-on, the two of you watching the whole show side by side — that is the spending most worthy of the word “date”. During coupon promotions there are instant discounts on the same zone and showtime; the exact amount and validity period may still change, and what the scenic area announces on the day prevails.

A reminder: under the ID system there is one ID, one ticket, with ticket, ID and person all matching, so the two tickets must be filled in with each person’s own document details — do not take the easy way out and order both under one ID.

3. After the Show: Late-Night Food and Somewhere to Stay

The performance runs about 70 minutes and often lets out at nine or ten at night or even later, so the rest of the Lintong leg can go like this:

• Late-night food: do not rush off — around Huaqing Palace and in Lintong town there are plenty of homely restaurants and night stalls, and a walk there for something hot is often the most relaxed stretch of the whole evening;
• Accommodation: if you chose a later-middle or the last show, stay a night in Lintong and sleep in the next morning before heading back to the city; it is far more comfortable than rushing along night roads after the show;
• Back to the city: if you insist on leaving that night, be sure to check the last train from Huaqingchi Station on Line 9 in advance — miss it and a taxi is the only option.

4. Booking Through This Site Is Less Fuss

When two people book, two things are most feared: not being seated together, and buying the wrong show.

• Official self-service channels: the ticket source is authentic, but hot showtimes sell out the moment they open and seat selection and verification are all up to you;
• This site’s third-party booking service: give the headcount (two), the date you want and the zone, and a dedicated person suggests seats, checks the showtime and follows the order’s progress.

One thing to say up front: seats are assigned automatically by the system, and a single order does not guarantee fully adjacent seats, so if you want to sit together you have to state that clearly in advance — leaving that kind of thing to a dedicated person to verify is steadier than refreshing the page yourself over and over. This article does not speak for any channel; it makes one honest point: date time should not be spent refreshing for tickets.

5. Completing the Date

A night-time showtime, side-by-side seats in Central, a late-night meal afterwards and a night in Lintong — the frame of the date is complete. Give the date and the needs of the two of you to this site’s booking service, hand over the seat selection and verification, and all you have to do is sit with your partner through the show.