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Beijing's service sector goes for the gold

By Liu Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-20 08:13

These Olympians are the service providers, especially the entrepreneurs, who have changed Beijing from a city where consumers often had only one option into a city of virtually endless choices. And they have done this in less than 30 years.

Golden Resources Shopping Mall, with six floors and a total area of 680,000 sq m, has been nicknamed the Great Mall of China. Located on Yuanda Road in Haidian district, it is 1.5 times the size of the Mall of America and was the world's largest shopping mall when it opened in 2004.[China Daily]

For foreigners, Beijing in the 1970s was a hardship post. Here was the capital city of a nation of more than 1 billion people with one restaurant serving Peking duck, one department store for foreigners, and at most three hotels for international tourists.

This summer, Beijing welcomes an estimated 450,000 overseas tourists, including 40,000 athletes, coaches, officials, and journalists. They are expected to spend some $4.5 billion.

They find a city transformed. Beijing today offers not only superb facilities but also excellent service for visitors, whether they seek dining, shopping, or accommodations.

Dining

Once a culinary wasteland, Beijing today offers visitors a selection of restaurants, large and small, to meet every taste.

Beijing's best-known delicacy is roast duck, sometimes called Peking Duck. The place to get it used to be Quanjude, a State-owned restaurant chain. But thanks to competition, diners in search of duck can now choose from a string of new establishments, including Dadong, Liqun, Duck King, and Jiuhuashan.

Dadong takes its name from Dong Zhenxiang, a former Quanjude chef who opened his own roast duck restaurant in the 1990s. Diners enjoy its artistic dcor and the distinctive pancakes in which the slices of duck are wrapped.

Dadong has exquisite service and is relatively expensive, making it a good choice for business entertaining, according to connoisseurs.

Quanjude itself has improved greatly in preparation for the Olympic Games, according to the company. However, more and more foreigners are seeking out Liqun, a small roast duck restaurant in a hutong (lane) about 30 minutes walk from the southeast corner of Tian'anmen Square.

The name of the restaurant means "benefiting the public", but is also the given name of the owner, Zhang Liqun. The restaurant has been written up by the travel guide Lonely Planet, but its prices are still reasonable - the standard Peking duck dinner (duck, pancakes, scallions, and duck soup) costs an average of 60 yuan per person, compared with between 100 and 130 yuan per person at Dadong or nearly 150 yuan at Quanjude, according to the popular dining restaurant website, http://Beijing.fantong.com.

Dongzhimennei Street, better known as Guijie, offers some 200 different restaurants with various styles of food. [China Daily]

To reach Liqun, you walk into a broken-down alley, turn right, pass a public toilet, turn left under a string of red lanterns, and walk straight until you see a sign, a duck in black ink painted by Zhang himself.

The restaurant itself is ancient, small, and rather cramped. The ducks are roasted over fires using fragrant apple wood within view of the diners, usually more foreign than local.

Business is so good that Zhang suggests guests book in advance; otherwise, they may face a wait of 30-60 minutes during busy periods.

"President Bush was supposed to visit my restaurant when he was in Beijing the year before last," said Zhang. "We had everything prepared. But unfortunately his limousine was too big to fit down the narrow hutong, and they decided it was too risky for him to walk."

On another occasion, former vice-president Al Gore made it to the restaurant unscathed, Zhang said.

"I know what they (foreigners) like and what they need. Serving them has become a pleasure to me," he added.

If a hutong experience is not your thing, the most reliable alternative is the roast duck at Made in China, a modern restaurant within the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Like any other metropolis, Beijing has attracted people from all over the world and has developed restaurants to match. The breadth and depth of the selection would be amazing to a veteran of the early 1980s, when foreigners dined at the Beijing Hotel and a few other formal dining rooms.

In addition to restaurants, there are now entire districts devoted to bars, cafes, and tea houses. Sanlitun, near the foreign embassies, and Houhai (Rear Lake), along both sides of the serpentine lake north of the Forbidden City, are the best known.

However, the local Chinese often opt for more mundane streets, such as Dongzhimennei Street. Best known as Guijie, it offers some 200 eateries with various styles of foods from across the country.

Shopping

For foreigners, shopping in Beijing has also entered the 21st century with a vengeance.

Guan Tong, 46, a former assistant at the Beijing Friendship Store, recalls that in the old days, it was an honor to work at the only store in Beijing that was authorized by the government to receive foreign guests.

"We had to pass an English examination and an interview. The training included international etiquette and knowledge of traditional Chinese goods, such as silk, jade, pearl, as well as the 'four Chinese treasures' - brushes, ink sticks, paper and ink stones," she said.

The Friendship Store was only allowed to receive foreign exchange certificates (FECs), a currency used by foreigners before 1994, she added.

Guan could never have imagined the range of shops and other commercial facilities available in Beijing today.

From boutique department stores (such as the World Trade Centre, The Place, and Shin Kong Place) to giant shopping malls like the Golden Resources Shopping Mall to hubs of individual shops (such as the Xiushui Silk Market and the Hongqiao Pearl Market), the range of domestic and imported goods available to both foreigners and local consumers is simply staggering.

Dongsi Street, a 15-minute drive from Tian'anmen Square, is regarded by locals as Beijing's Shibuya (the fashion district in Tokyo). Here there are boutiques operated by young trend-setters, as well as established shops with staffs of experienced tailors.

Feng Yanyang has run a jeans store called "Cool Jeans" on Dongsi for almost 10 years. In addition to jeans - both brand name and locally made - her shop sells second-hand luxury brands, which are popular with foreign visitors.

"Years ago, we'd get a few foreigners, usually students. But now, a lot of overseas travelers come here in search of our creative goods," said Feng, wearing a tank top and Diesel baggy jeans with a pair of FitFlops.

Next door is a tattoo studio run by a 25-year-old artist from Hong Kong. "He's doing very well. His customers, including foreigners, have increased noticeably since 2006, when the shop opened," said Feng.

Another favorite of foreigners is Maliandao Tea City in the southern part of the city. Maliandao is a hub of thousands of tea merchants from every corner of China and the world. In addition to small shops, it includes a kind of tea museum, displaying more than 30 types of tea, as well as tea sets and other paraphenalia.

"Here you can find all types of Chinese tea, from Puer to green tea, from black to jasmine tea, even flower and herb teas preferred by young ladies," said Fujian native Fan Li.

Buying tea and bargaining with the shopkeepers is an art enjoyed by many connoisseurs, both foreign and domestic, according to Fan.

Fan's shop allows customers to sample tea for free, and some shop assistants can assist them in simple English. "We are still learning, and sometimes learn from our foreign customers, who stay in Beijing and can speak Chinese," says Fan.

The Beijing Friendship Store on Jianguomenwai Street was once the only department store open to foreigners. [Agencies]

Accommodations

Both luxury hotels and budget accommodations are flourishing in Beijing. In addition, homestay offers another option for foreign visitors eager to experience 'real life' in the city.

According to the Beijing Tourism Bureau, Beijing boasts 46 five-star hotels, with 22,300 rooms and 33,000 beds, and 116 four-star hotels, with 34,500 rooms and 57,500 beds.

Also, some 200 moderate or budget hotels are available to visitors, compared to almost none four years ago.

In addition, 598 households have been selected for "homestay" accommodations during the Olympics, offering 726 rooms with 1,000 beds. Many of these showcase renovated homes in the Beijing's ancient hutong.

"My home is centuries old, but it has clean toilets, computers, televisions and a refrigerator," says Wang Zhixi, owner of an Olympic homestay. Her siheyuan (courtyard home) in Dajinsi Hutong near the Shichahai lake area is handy to one of Beijing's burgeoning new bar and nightlife districts.

Wang and her husband, who both claim descent from Qing Dynasty nobility, have decorated their home with traditional Chinese paintings. They are currently entertaining a German couple, who rent a room for 500 yuan per night.

Yuan Xiaoqing's sprawling nine-bedroom home overlooking the Fragrant Hills is a far cry from the average Beijing flat. Yuan's home features a spacious rooftop garden with rose bushes, grape vines, fruit trees, and a willow.

Yuan and her family have been offering homestays to overseas guests for three years and have received visitors from Europe, Canada and the United States, most of them high school or college students. Recently the family applied to become part of the Olympic homestay program, but organizers said the house was too far from the downtown area.

Many commercial operators in Beijing offer to match travelers with households willing to rent them a room. Jacob Cooke, manager of Beijing Homestay Agency, has directed many guests to Yuan's home and said the agency has a database of 30 to 40 families willing to provide homestay services.