Shanghai Hanfu & Qipao Photoshoots: 6 Studios Compared

If your feed has suddenly filled with people walking through Shanghai in hanfu under glowing red lanterns, you are not imagining it.

A Shanghai hanfu photoshoot costs roughly ¥150 to more than ¥1,000, depending on what is actually included. For the version you have probably seen online — outfit, hair, makeup, a photographer and at least a few edited photos — budget ¥400–800 a head.

Around Yu Garden alone there are dozens of costume shops, photography studios and OTA packages. One listing starts below ¥200, another costs more than ¥1,000, some include makeup but no photographer, and some charge for every extra image.

I have not personally tried every studio below, so this is not a first-hand ranking. It is built from current 2026 booking information, Chinese local listings, Shanghai media coverage, OTA packages and recent customer reports.

The short version

• ¥150–1,000+, and the gap is inclusions, not quality. Budget ¥400–800 for the full version.
• Cheap listings are often costume rental only. A ¥149 package may be clothing and nothing else.
• Extra retouched photos cost around ¥60–100 each. Decide before the shoot, not during photo selection.
• Yu Garden admission is usually separate, if your photographer takes you inside the ticketed garden.
• Men can do it, but the outfit selection is much smaller. Ask to see the men’s catalogue first.
• Booking through an OTA costs roughly 10–20% more and removes most of the language and payment friction.

Choose at a glance

If you want the version you have seen online, I would budget around ¥400–800 per person. Anything dramatically cheaper needs a closer look at what is included.

What matters when choosing

What you are actually paying for

¥149–300: costume rental. Usually the costume, basic accessories and several hours of rental. Usually not professional photography, full makeup or edited photos.

¥300–500: basic makeover. Costume, hair and makeup. Photography may still be limited or separate.

¥400–800: the normal full experience. Costume, hair and makeup, a photographer, an outdoor shoot, roughly 10–30 raw photos and around 3–6 edited photos.

¥800–1,600+: premium. Premium costumes, more elaborate makeup, a senior photographer, additional looks, more edited photos, or a larger group package.

There are professional wedding and commercial studios charging several thousand RMB. I would treat those as a different product entirely.

What pushes the price up

Usually not the costume on its own. The biggest jumps come from:

1. Adding professional photography
2. Buying more retouched photos
3. Choosing premium costumes
4. Adding additional looks
5. Booking for couples or groups

Extra retouched images commonly cost around ¥60–100 each. That sounds harmless until you are choosing photos after the shoot and decide you like another ten.

Hanfu or qipao

Choose hanfu if you want historical Chinese clothing, layered robes, elaborate hairstyles and an ancient-China look against Yu Garden architecture and lanterns. Hanfu is not one style — Tang, Song and Ming outfits can look very different. If you have a particular look saved, show the studio the photo before booking.

Choose qipao if you want old Shanghai: a cleaner silhouette, 1920s–1930s styling, vintage indoor portraits, a Bund or Republican-era aesthetic.

For qipao I would start with Da Xin Photo Studio. For a broader hanfu selection, Yu Jian Hanfu.

Where the photos get taken

Yu Garden is the easiest answer for first-time visitors. Traditional architecture, old streets, bridges and lanterns are concentrated in one walkable area, and many studios are right there, so you finish makeup and walk to the shoot instead of spending half the session in a taxi.

One detail that matters: the ticketed Yu Garden and the surrounding Yu Garden and City God Temple commercial area are not the same thing. The formal garden closes much earlier than the surrounding streets. If you are booking a night shoot, ask the photographer exactly where you will be shooting.

The Bund makes more sense for qipao. A 1930s-style qipao against Shanghai’s historic waterfront feels more specific to this city than forcing every shoot into an ancient-China background. Hanfu works there too, it is just a very different aesthetic.

Zhujiajiao is the canals-and-bridges option, covered below.

Day or night

Daytime is better for natural colours, costume detail and easier photography. The downside is crowds.

Around sunset is probably the safest option if you have the time — you get daylight shots and then wait for the lanterns.

Night is the look you have probably seen online: red lanterns, dark blue sky, traditional roofs. It photographs well, but do not assume every photographer works late, and do not assume a night shoot means access to the ticketed garden itself.

Ask for the exact shooting location, the photographer’s night availability, the expected finish time, and whether any location fees are extra. If night photography is the whole reason you are doing this, confirm it before paying the deposit.

Studios worth considering

1. Bai Li Travel Photography — best overall

Area: Yu Garden. Price: ¥499–1,299. Best for: groups, men, premium costumes, night photos.

Bai Li is one of the larger operators around Yu Garden, and the main reason to shortlist it is range. The more expensive tiers add premium costumes and more elaborate styling, and the documented costume selection includes hanfu from different periods, qipao, Warring States-style robes and Zhongshan suits for men.

It also handles a lot of international customers. Shanghai media reports describe a customer base that can be around 80% international visitors during normal periods, and the studio has handled large family groups.

That matters if you are not the standard solo female customer. A lot of hanfu shops technically have men’s clothes — that does not mean they have much choice. Night shoots around the Yu Garden area are also available.

What I would check before booking. Its online booking is less straightforward than the OTA options. Ask for the current package menu, the men’s catalogue if relevant, how many raw photos are included, how many retouched photos are included, and whether premium accessories cost extra. If you are happy using WeChat or asking your hotel to help, this looks like one of the more flexible options.

2. Qiu Jian Yu — best budget and easiest first choice

Area: Yu Garden. Price: ¥149 rental only; roughly ¥399–699 with photography. Best for: first-timers, budget travellers, easy online booking.

If this is your first trip to China and you do not want to arrange a deposit over WeChat, I would look here first. It is currently bookable through Klook, KKday and Trip.com, which gives you an English interface, foreign-card payment, clearer cancellation terms and a written record of what you bought.

The ¥149 starting price is mainly a costume-rental product. For the experience most travellers want, expect roughly ¥399–699, which depending on the package can include professional makeup, false eyelashes, accessories, outdoor follow-shoot photography, around 10–30 raw images and around 3–6 edited photos. Men’s hanfu and family options are also available, and the inclusions are more transparent than at many small local studios.

What to watch for. Yu Garden admission is normally separate if your photographer takes you inside the ticketed garden, and additional retouched photos cost extra. Neither is unusual — just know it before you reach the photo-selection stage.

3. Da Xin Photo Studio — best for qipao and old Shanghai

Area: Yu Garden Old Street. Price: from ¥367. Best for: qipao, vintage Shanghai, indoor portraits.

Da Xin is the odd one out on this list, which is why I wanted it here. If you actually want old Shanghai rather than ancient-China hanfu, this makes more sense than forcing yourself into a standard outdoor hanfu package. The studio dates back to 1933 and leans heavily on qipao and Republican-era styling — a 1930s Shanghai portrait rather than a Tang-dynasty character under Yu Garden lanterns. The photography is more studio-based, with vintage Shanghai sets.

Packages start around ¥367 and include styling and professional photography, with more expensive packages adding retouched images and upgraded costumes. It is also bookable through Klook.

The part I would pay attention to. Raw files are not automatically included in the packages researched. Additional raw files can cost around ¥60 each, and extra retouched photos around ¥100 each. So a ¥367 package can grow quickly if you like a lot of the shots. Choose Da Xin because you want the qipao aesthetic, not because you are hunting for the cheapest photography package.

4. Yu Jian Hanfu Experience Hall — best costume selection

Area: Yu Garden. Price: roughly ¥400–800. Best for: costume choice, men, night photography.

If the outfit itself matters most, this is one of the strongest options I found. It reportedly carries 300+ sets covering Tang, Song, Ming and Wei-Jin styles, plus qipao and men’s outfits.

That is a meaningful difference. A lot of smaller hanfu stores look enormous online, but once you remove the premium-costume section, the wrong sizes and the unavailable outfits, your real choice may be much smaller. Yu Jian is also right in the Yu Garden area, close to the traditional streets and Nine Bend Bridge, and night photography is specifically documented here. Staff have been reported as learning English, Japanese and Korean for international customers.

The downside. Pricing is less transparent online than Qiu Jian Yu, and I could not verify a major English-language OTA listing. The experience may be excellent, but the booking experience is less convenient from overseas. If you are comfortable with WeChat, that matters much less. If you are not, compare it against an OTA-bookable studio first.

5. Fangfeige — best for English booking

Area: Yu Garden. Price: roughly ¥400–800. Best for: travellers who want English booking and flexible cancellation.

Fangfeige is here mostly because the booking friction is low. Its experiences are sold through GetYourGuide with English-language booking, pay-later options and free cancellation on eligible bookings. For some travellers that is worth more than saving ¥50 by messaging a local shop directly.

Hanfu and qipao options are available, with photography around locations including Yu Garden and the Bund. Professional makeup and posing guidance are included in photography packages, and night photography is available.

One thing to know. The meeting point is an office rather than the obvious street-level hanfu shop you may be picturing, and Fangfeige is a cultural and media operator rather than a heritage photography studio like Da Xin. Neither point is automatically bad. It just means I would choose this for convenience rather than because you are hunting for the most local studio experience.

6. Art Book House — best if you are staying near the Bund

Area: Fuzhou Road, near Nanjing East Road and the Bund. Price: roughly ¥174–500. Best for: budget travellers, Bund-area stays.

Most of the studios above cluster around Yu Garden, so this gives you another option. It offers both hanfu and qipao experiences through Klook, with prices starting around ¥174 depending on the package. Makeup and professional photography are available on higher packages, and the Klook listing has a fairly substantial booking history, which gives me more confidence than a random studio with three photos on a local map listing.

The downside is that details around men’s outfits, night shoots and exact photo deliverables are less clear. I would choose this mostly for location and easy booking. If your hotel is near the Bund, it may make more sense than crossing town just because every other article tells you to start at Yu Garden — my where to stay in Shanghai guide covers which neighbourhood to base yourself in.

Other local studios around Yu Garden

There are many more than the six above. These are worth knowing if you are comfortable booking through Dianping or WeChat.

Hua Xiaotang. Typical spend appears to be around ¥600–800. The most interesting detail is a customer report describing all raw photos plus retouching included. If that is still the current policy it could be good value, and night photos around Nine Bend Bridge have also been documented. I would confirm the current package in writing before booking, because the evidence here is weaker than for the OTA-listed studios.

Xia Mo. Another Yu Garden-area option. A detailed customer report put full photography packages around ¥600 per outfit with raw images included, and rental-only pricing around ¥300. More useful if you can communicate in Chinese or ask a local friend or your hotel to help.

Zhu Jianmo. Strong local map rating, and it has appeared in Chinese media coverage about foreign visitors doing hanfu photography around Yu Garden. The problem is transparency: I could not verify enough current detail on package inclusions, raw photos, men’s outfits or English support to put it above the six main picks. That does not mean it is bad. It means I would ask more questions before paying.

Want a water-town background instead?

You do not have to shoot around Yu Garden. If you are already planning a day trip to Zhujiajiao, combining the water town with a hanfu shoot can make sense. Meet Travel Photography currently has OTA-listed options there, starting around ¥232 for rental and makeup, with photography available depending on the package.

The canals and bridges give you a genuinely different background. But I would not travel an hour out of the city just for this studio — the operator information is less clear and ratings across different Trip.com listings are inconsistent.

Treat it as “I am already going to Zhujiajiao, should I add a hanfu shoot?”, not as “what is the best hanfu studio in Shanghai?”

Before you go

How to book

Through an OTA. For most foreign travellers this is what I would recommend. Klook, Trip.com, KKday and GetYourGuide give you an English interface, foreign-card payment, clearer package descriptions, cancellation terms, traceable payment and customer support. The research suggests OTA prices can run around 10–20% higher than booking direct. On a ¥500 experience that is not a huge difference, and I would happily pay an extra ¥50–100 rather than negotiate a Chinese deposit over WeChat.

Direct. Direct booking can make sense if you want more costume choices, custom requests, a specific photographer or slightly better prices. Expect to use some combination of WeChat, Dianping, Chinese-language messages, and Alipay or WeChat Pay. This is where being in China already is easier than planning the whole trip from overseas. If you are staying in a good hotel, the concierge may also be able to contact a studio for you.

What to check before you pay

This matters more than whether one studio has a 4.8 or a 4.9 rating.

• Is makeup included?
• Is hairstyling included?
• Are false eyelashes included?
• Are hair accessories included?
• Are some costumes in a premium section?
• Is the photographer included?
• How long is the actual photography session?
• How many raw photos are included?
• How many retouched photos?
• Can I download all raw photos?
• What does each extra retouched photo cost?
• Are attraction tickets included?
• Is transportation included?
• Do I have to pay a deposit?
• How long does editing take?
• Can I see recent photos of normal customers?

That last one is the most useful of the set. Model photos tell you what a studio can produce on its best day. Recent customer photos tell you more about what you are actually buying.

What “all-inclusive” actually means

You will sometimes see a package sold as quan bao, literally “all included”. I would not stop asking questions there.

Local authorities and customer reports have documented complaints around Yu Garden involving cheap all-inclusive packages followed by upselling for premium hair accessories, premium costume sections, false eyelashes, makeup consumables and additional edited photos.

This does not mean every studio does it. It means you should ask exactly what is included before your makeup is already half finished. I would also avoid booking through street promoters around the tourist area — book the actual studio, or use an OTA with a clear package description.

Are raw photos included?

Sometimes. Never assume. The useful phrase is di pian quan song, meaning all raw images are included.

Some mid-range packages include 10–30 raw files. Hua Xiaotang and Xia Mo both have customer reports describing packages where all raw photos were included. Da Xin is the opposite, charging separately for raw files. This can make a real difference to the final bill.

Men, couples and families

Yes, men can do hanfu photoshoots in Shanghai, but the selection is genuinely smaller. Bai Li and Yu Jian both have documented men’s options, and Qiu Jian Yu lists men’s hanfu packages. Common choices include men’s hanfu, Ming-style robes, Warring States-style outfits and Zhongshan suits.

If you are a man and the outfit matters, ask to see the men’s catalogue before paying a deposit. Do not assume a studio advertising “300+ outfits” has 300 choices for men. It will not.

For couples, ask whether the listed price is per person or per shoot. For families, confirm sizing in advance, especially for children and larger groups.

Mistakes worth avoiding

• Do not book the cheapest listing without reading the inclusions. A ¥149 package may be legitimate, and may also be costume rental only.
• Do not assume “all-inclusive” means literally everything. Ask about eyelashes, hair accessories, premium costumes, raw photos, retouched photos and attraction tickets.
• Do not wait until after the shoot to ask about photo prices. This is one of the easiest ways to spend more than planned.
• Do not assume walk-ins will work. Popular studios get very busy during Chinese public holidays and peak travel periods.
• Do not book a Yu Garden night shoot without confirming the actual location. The surrounding streets stay active much later than the formal garden, so “Yu Garden night shoot” can mean different things.
• Do not choose a studio entirely from model photos. Look for recent customer work.

My take

For most first-time foreign travellers: Qiu Jian Yu. It is not necessarily the most special studio in Shanghai. It is just one of the easiest combinations of reasonable pricing, clear packages and simple OTA booking.

If costume choice matters most: Yu Jian Hanfu. The 300+ documented outfit selection makes it one of the stronger hanfu-specific options.

If you are booking for men, couples or a larger group: Bai Li Travel Photography. It handles a high volume of international customers and has documented men’s and family options.

If you actually want old Shanghai rather than hanfu: Da Xin Photo Studio. Go for the qipao and vintage studio aesthetic.

If you hate booking friction: Fangfeige. GetYourGuide makes the process easy.

If you are staying near the Bund: Art Book House. More convenient than crossing Shanghai to reach another Yu Garden studio.

And if those lantern-lit photos are the entire reason you are booking — do not just choose the cheapest hanfu package. Choose a studio that specifically confirms night photography around Yu Garden. That is one detail worth settling before you pay.

Prices and booking details researched September 2026. Shanghai hanfu studios change packages often, so confirm the current price, photo count and inclusions before paying.