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A Hotel with Stories to Tell

There are 4,761 hotels, inns or hostels in Beijing, 658 of which are star-rated, but only a handful can truly be regarded as historic. The Beijing Hotel, known as Grand Hotel de Pekin in another day and time, stands apart, with a legacy unlike any other.

Strolling through its bustling lobby and hallways, it’s fun to imagine what it must have been like to be one among the Beijing Hotel’s staff or the 800 guests who posed to commemorate the opening of the hotel’s first building (today’s Building B) in 1900.

Beijing’s oldest hotel, which was refurbished in 2000, is one of the most luxurious and distinctive hotels in Beijing or in China. With its turn-of-the-century French architectural influence and its close proximity to the Forbidden City and Tian’anmen Square, about ten-minutes walk away, the Beijing Hotel is perfectly located to suit the needs of business and leisure travellers.

In its early heyday, the hotel was a centrepiece in Beijing for western cultural influences. From its garden on the seventh floor, which could reached by taking a lift imported from the United States, to its made-in-Austria Boesendorfer pianos or its 105 guest rooms, equipped with the most advanced appliances, the Beijing Hotel was little different from landmark hotels in European countries when it was built. Gourmet parties, concerts, dances and world-class performances were often held there, turning the hotel into a major venue of social contact for Chinese and foreign celebrities.

In addition to its fine architecture, undiminished beauty, the comfort of its rooms and its wonderful Asian ambience, the 106-year-old hotel’s story is also a story of humanity, the rich, the merely famous, the powerful. The hotel is closely associated with Beijing’s modern history, its powerbrokers, its glamorous winners and losers.

The last Chinese emperor, Aisin Gioro Pu Yi, dined on western-style desserts in his royal garden that were made by the Beijing Hotel’s chefs. The room Dr. Sun Yat-Sen used in 1925 during his time in Beijing has been preserved. The hotel has served countless foreign delegations and missions, such as that of Field Marshal Montgomery from Britain, the American writer Edgar Snow, British writer George Bernard Shaw and the Indian poet Tagore, to just name a few. Room 1735 still bears a sign indicating where China’s long-time premier Zhou Enlai stayed and worked.

Travellers to historic cities around the world often have choices of several historic hotels in which to rest and linger; the Beijing Hotel is well aware of the growing interest in heritage travel, and it is ready to play its role.

Domestically, the Beijing Hotel has been a silent, though involved, witness to Beijing and the country’s development. Delegations from every region of China gathered at Beijing Hotel in August 1949, bearing their historic responsibility to assist with the founding of New China. The first banquet celebrating the foundation of the People’s Republic of China was held there on October 1, 1949. From 1949 to 1958, all the country’s National Day receptions were held at the hotel. It has played host to numerous visiting heads of states or governments representing about 60 countries.

In 1954, the western buildings of the hotel (today’s Buildings C and D) were built. Since then, they have become the biggest and the most important meeting halls of the hotel, with a capacity of more than 1,700, for the State-level banquet hall. The designer, Dai Nianci, who is noted among the first generation of contemporary architectural designers in China, combined western and Chinese traditional architectural styles, bringing a convergence of East and West to the very heart of Beijing.

To meet new demands in the 1970s, the hotel underwent yet another expansion with the approval of former Premier Zhou Enlai. Its old red-brick building was pulled down and a new eastern wing was constructed on its site. Completed in 1974, the 89-metre structure (today’s Building A) was the highest building in Beijing at that time. The Beijing Hotel then added Building E, which has many business suites and a well-equipped sports and fitness club, to serve 21st-century guests.

In June, Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the Coordination Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announced that Beijing Hotel would be the headquarters hotel for IOC during the 2008 Olympic Games. With more than 500,000 people from overseas expected to visit Beijing during the 2008 Games, this venerable hotel seems poised to enter a new golden era.

The Beijing Hotel will continue in its vital role as a witness to and a participant in the transformation of China’s capital city from a renowned world city of antiquity to a modern world centre known for its culture and commerce, elegance and high fashion and its peaceful and harmonious way of life.