A super-luxurious Spring Festival dinner is to be served in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing, with seats going for 180,000 yuan, or nearly US$23,000.

The dinner includes a dish made from ginseng and chicken that costs 160,000 yuan alone. It exceeds the luxurious Spring Festival dinner reported earlier in Guangzhou that costs 80,000 yuan.

Many people have expressed their opinion that the meal is ridiculously expensive, and would rather try Spring Festival dinners priced around 1000 yuan.

(CRI January 24, 2005)