Riverdance came to 6,000 people in the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing last night.
While the reaction of the vast Chinese audience was subdued initially, they burst into applause for the big set routines after the interval.
They clapped along and showed their appreciation with a standing ovation and calls for more at the end.
If Riverdance's two-week run in Beijing is a success, another dance company will be put on the road to satisfy Chinese demand.
The venue, scene of some of the greatest moments in the history of the Chinese Communist Party, was probably one of the strangest the hugely successful company has performed in. The audience included the President, Mrs McAleese and her husband Martin, guests and officials from the Irish Embassy as well as Chinese Government officials.
President McAleese said at the post show reception that Riverdance exemplified the story of contemporary Ireland's economic transformation.
Earlier yesterday, Mrs McAleese visited Peking University where 30,000 students gathered. She told them about Ireland's economy, its role in the EU, its academic institutions, its trade and culture and its relations with China. Ireland believed in championing the role and vindicating the principles and purposes of the UN, Mrs McAleese said.
"Ireland would not be true to itself if it were to allow the aspirations embedded in the UN Charter to appear redundant or the high principles of international cooperation to be dismissed as hollow. Recent events have demonstrated that the United Nations remains the indispensable organisation at the centre of our system of collective security," she said.
There was no mention of human rights or civil liberties from either the platform or the floor.
The President said Ireland had a long way to go on women in politics. Cultural relations led to friendships which led to trusts which had to exist to built trade, she said.
Premier Wen Jiabao told the President earlier in the day that he was impressed at how much Ireland had achieved in a short time. "I think it is a miracle indeed that a western country has achieved a growth rate of 9 per cent," he said.
Mrs McAleese replied: "I thought you were going to accuse us of bringing Irish weather."