In Baoding, Hebei Province, a dining spot known as Koi Pond Restaurant has gone viral on TikTok for turning its entire dining area floor into an aquarium. The catch is simple and theatrical: round tables are arranged within colossal glass tanks, so when you sit to enjoy your bowl of noodles or plate of dumplings, you’re immersed in an underwater spectacle where shimmering parades of silver carp and koi swim around you.
While that sounds like a gimmick that’s actually pretty interesting and fun, there are still a few practical concerns. For example, across social media, a few worried netizens have asked the restaurant what happens if, say, kids toss candy wrappers or tissues into the water. In response, the restaurant has reinforced its strict rule: feed the fish only with edible food—nothing else.
But gimmicks and concerns aside, there’s an intentional meaning behind the restaurant’s spectacle. Koi (锦鲤, jinli) have long stood for fortune and luck in traditional Chinese symbolism; flowing water in fengshui often represents continuously arriving customers, wealth, and good fortune. In other words, this setup reads like a deliberate feng shui consideration dressed up as décor.
This isn’t some one-off stunt in China’s decade-long run of theatrical interiors. Restaurants nationwide have been celebrating local traditional designs and regional clichés—think Jiangnan pavilions, as well as places like Pi Pa Man with its boat-shaped dining rooms, turning ambience into attraction. Yet Baoding’s fish-floor tables feel like they’re on a totally different level.
While perfect for that foodie photo moment, it turns out that photographing or filming there has had unexpected issues. With all that glass, the glare and reflections interrupt what would be a great postcard photo for the fam. Even video content doesn’t quite convey the hypnotic experience you get in person. Still, millions of views later, the videos have given Baoding—which is usually skipped on tourists’ lists—a moment in the limelight.
Cover Image via Xiaohongshu.
