Old is gold

By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-09 11:02

The modernistic lobby of Hotel Kunlun incorporates the ancient elements of feng shui.

One of the signs that China had broken free of its self-wrought cocoon and opened its doors to the outside world was the emergence of upscale hotels in the 1980s, which often shaped its urban skylines. These hotels were not just buildings that offered accommodation, but psychological landmarks that tantalized with a lifestyle many aspired to reach.

Nowadays it is difficult for a hotel to occupy that kind of status in the public consciousness. But there are still some hotels, whose physical structures may be submerged in the sprouting Beijing landscape yet whose names still carry a special cachet. Hotel Kunlun is one of these landmarks.

The Kunlun Mountain Range, on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, runs 2,500 km and rises 5,500-6,000 m above sea level. The water there is so pristine and sacred that a mythological lake named Yaochi was invented in folklore for gods and goddesses.

A floor-to-ceiling tapestry depicting the mountain used to hang in the Hotel Kunlun lobby. The latest renovation has replaced the realistic scenery with an abstract rendering, with layers and layers of materials that resemble gold lame. It could be Kunlun Mountain in the glow of sunset.

The modernistic lobby incorporates the ancient elements of feng shui. Sacred water still flows throughout the building, in the waterfall that partially shelters the entrance, in the droplets of crystals that adorn the lobby, in the Shanghai Flavor Restaurant that seeps with moisture on the paths, in the Keikaku Japanese Restaurant where water is symbolized by meandering lines in the sand, and of course in the central pool. The hotel sits next to the Liangma River, so wealth-signifying water is a natural fixture as well.

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