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Have a Nice Stay
How Hotels Tell Story of Nation |
Newspapers and magazines in Beijing have lately picked up on a new trend: Parents are reserving five-star hotel rooms for their children to enjoy a quiet night before taking their critical college entrance exams.
In some of the big cities of the south, people are already growing accustomed to breakfasting in big hotels. While foreign visitors may sometimes find Chinese hotels not quite as accommodating as their experienced partners in the West, a little slice of history may aid understanding.
1950s: Canteen Culture
"Longing for Beijing, yearning for Beijing, but the canteen is the place to live when you come." Many old Beijingers can still remember this popular saying. Hotels were rare.
Work units built millions of small guest hostels. Tourism was an alien concept to most Chinese. Most came to Beijing for business, to go to hospital or see relatives.
Most living places available were full, including corridors, bathrooms and barber's shops. Competition didn't exist at all. The very best hotels consisted of white walls, wooden floor, desk and a washing basin under the bed.
At the beginning of the 1950s, the government started to build proper hotels: the Peace Hotel, Xinqiao Hotel, Friendship Hotel, Xiyuan Hotel, Beijing Hotel, Qianmen Hotel, Minzu Hotel and Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
The hotels' purpose was solely to receive representatives for different national meetings.
Xiyuan Hotel was then called "the Soviet Exhibition Hall Receiving Hostel", built especially for people who came to the exhibitions. The hotel achieved national fame very shortly after it was opened, not only as central government meetings were held there, but also all national production plan meetings were held there.
1960s: Reception Stations
Yuan Zongtang was assigned to work in Beijing, but the unit couldn't provide him with a dormitory. He had to stay in a nearby hotel. There was actually a hotel introduction office at Beijing Railway Station, but the hotels were only for cadres above level 18: People entitled to 1 kilogram of soybeans and 500 grams of white sugar. Cadres of this level were known as "sugar and beans cadre".
He was later placed in a 12-room hostel near Xidan and charged 1.25 yuan a day for one bed. His salary was 87.5 yuan a month. The hostel had one public toilet. He had to eat his meals outside in the street.
The Cultural Revolution converted China into one big hostel for more than 12 million youngsters who wandered all the over the country, forming the biggest wave of "group traveling" in Chinese history.
Most hostels were now "reception stations". The Revolutionary Committees ran everything. This situation lasted until the end of the 1970s.
1970s: Run, Rabbit, Run
Wang Qiang, a purchasing manager, traveled almost all of China on a subsidy of 15 yuan a day. He often carried pickled vegetables to save some money. His most unforgettable experience was looking for a place to live in Beijing.
A popular saying then was "people who get off the train run like rabbits".
There was a race to register at the hostel introduction table at the railway station. One time, Wang was late off the blocks and had to search several hutongs. To no avail.
Then he turned a corner and saw people with luggage waiting in a line in front of the public baths. He was told the baths took guests at night after closing. The baths closed at 8 pm and cleaned up to be a temporary hostel.
He stayed in a tiny room with one bed separated by partition walls. His legs could not stretch freely and turning his back was even harder. But this was not the worst part.
People who arrived late could only lie on the humid cement floor. That way the baths accepted more than 30 persons a night. There was an early morning call to make way for the next day's customers. In Shanghai, he lived in a canteen and in Guangzhou, he stayed in a barber's shop.
Around National Day 1978, an Italian tourist group came to stay at the Xiyuan Hotel. The 25 Italians refused to get off the bus. They had found there was no toilet, no telephone and no air-conditioning in the rooms. In 1978, there were precisely 137 hotels with air-conditioned rooms in China.
The Chinese guide was at a loss about what to do and began crying. Finally, all the members of staff at the hotel came out and lined up to welcome the guests. They finally felt forced to agree.
Four days later, when the Italians left, they said, "Although your facilities are backward, your service is great. We will come back here next time."
1980s: Bed Bug Bites
Hong Kong ship mogul Bao Yugang and his assistant Li Bozhong came to Beijing in 1981. They waited all day, but couldn't find a hotel room. Finally, Bao asked a deputy prime minister to help find a hotel room, but they nonetheless ended up sleeping on the floor. Bao decided to build a hotel in Beijing, today's Zhao Long Hotel.
In 1980, the state began encouraging tourism. Construction, reconstruction and expansion of hotels took off. By 1984, 200 old hotels in China had all undergone wholesale reconstruction.
Beijing's first joint venture hotel, Jianguo, opened in 1982, followed by Yanxiang, Yanjing, Huadu, Fragrant Hills and Great Wall Sheraton. These hotels all underwent further renovation in the 1990s.
Management systems were also reorganized along foreign lines. China had 160 joint venture or foreign-invested hotels in 1989.
1990s: Hotels Heap Stars
In 1992, the star-rating system was adopted nationally. There were 3,485 star-rated hotels in China at the end of 1998.
Beijing has 16 five-star, 32 four-star, 68 three-star, 112 two-star and 33 one-star hotels, a total 319.
Fierce competition now abounds. Just a few years ago, hotel managers dreaded receiving reservation phone calls. Even lobbies were used for guests to stay over. But today, salespersons have to go out looking for business.