I20:00 · 08 Feb
A seven-course banquet.
Eight travellers, eight courses, the room reserved at dusk at the Imperial Dongbeilou. Red envelopes distributed by the proprietress herself.
https://lunarfestival.ca
A single departure · 09 Feb 2027 · YYZReserve a seat
A Meridian Journeys special
Lunar Festival · MMXXVII
✶ You are invited ✶
To see the Year turn,
on an empty Wall.
A single departure, on the single night of the year a section of Jinshanling closes for us. You fly YYZ on 06 February; you are home by 13 February. Fourteen seats only, and we have already lined the boots.
Plate I · Jinshanling
— the Wall at 23:58 on Lunar New Year's Eve, 2026.
§ A letter from the host
“My grandmother first took me to that tower in 1986, with a thermos and two strangers. Forty-one years later I still walk it, only now I bring twelve travellers with me, once a year, on the only night I can keep it quiet. I hope you will be one of them.”
Mei Chen
Your host · Toronto, April 2026
§ The order of the evening
Five movements, dinner to dawn.
01 / 05
II22:30 · 08 Feb
Through sleeping Beijing.
Private motorcoach to Jinshanling. A hot gaiwan for the road, down duvets provided — we leave the city as the last of the fireworks begin.
III00:00 · 09 Feb
The Year turns, on an empty Wall.
Our section is closed. The keeper lights the first lantern at the Tower of the North Wind. Yours is the second.
IV00:15 · 09 Feb
A warm-wine toast at Watchtower XIII.
Heated mulled huangjiu, jiaozi steamed on brick. Our host, Mei Chen, reads a 1962 letter from her grandmother.
V04:00 · 09 Feb
Dawn light, then bed.
The Wall at first light is ours alone for forty minutes. Our photographer captures your portrait, unobserved.
§ Three ways to be invited
Write your name in the book.
Prices are in CAD and include everything you will see, eat, ride and sleep in — from the car that calls for you at home to the car that drops you back. A 20% deposit reserves the seat.
I.4 of 14 remain
Private room, for one
A solitary seat
From
CA$ 5,890
— one traveller, all-inclusive
- ✦A single room at the Imperial Dongbeilou
- ✦Private car from and to YYZ
- ✦The midnight ceremony, naturally
- ✦A dawn-light portrait, framed
Reserve this seat✦
20% deposit · refundable to 01 Nov
II.Recommended
Double room, twin or king
For two
From
CA$ 10,890
— the pair, all-inclusive
- ✦A king-bed suite at the Dongbeilou
- ✦Two matching tangzhuang jackets
- ✦A private Wall tower at midnight
- ✦Red-envelope pairing at dinner
Reserve this seat✦
20% deposit · refundable to 01 Nov
III.2 households only
Two adjoining family suites
For a household
From
CA$ 18,480
— four travellers, all-inclusive
- ✦Two adjoining family suites
- ✦A children's red-envelope ceremony
- ✦Kid-size duvets for the Wall
- ✦A separate family banquet table
Reserve this seat✦
20% deposit · refundable to 01 Nov
§ From last year's cohort
“We flew home on a Monday and told absolutely no one at the office where we had been. It felt like we would ruin it by saying it out loud.”
— Priya & James, Toronto · Lunar '26 cohort
§ Doors close when the fourteen is full