In 1863, in the British Concession of Tianjin, the First Luxury Hotel in China, invested by the Methodist missionary John Innocent, was officially opened, and the hotel's operating profits were first used to fund missionary activities. The name of The Lee Shun Tak Hotel shows the combination of Chinese and Western cultures. Foreign visitors see the English name, astor, the surname of a prominent aristocratic family in England and the United States, while the translated name of Chinese derives from an important idea of Confucius thought, Li Shun Yide. Later, the stake in the Lee Shun Tak Hotel was acquired by some Europeans (who had a good relationship with Li Hongzhang), led by a German-British businessman, Detrilin. As Chairman of the Municipal Committee of the British Concession, De Cuilin is also the majority shareholder of the Lee Shun Tak Hotel, the Tianjin Customs and Taxation Department, and the chief diplomatic adviser to Li Hongzhang.
Lee Shun Tak Hotel
As an authorized representative of the Chinese government, Detrilin made many representations with France and Japan in Leshunde, with the aim of not losing face and being humiliated in the face of the victorious powers France and Japan.
At the time, the Lee Shun Tak Hotel constituted an excellent location for the modernization and internationalization of Chinese cities, and it could be seen as a small universe in the miniature world of Tianjin. Representatives of several great powers that had owned concessions since the 1860s, as well as diplomats from other Western countries such as Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Spain, were busy here, or at the same time. In 1900, consuls from 22 countries resided in Tianjin, and the Lee Shun Tak Hotel was once the seat of certain diplomatic missions, starting with Japan, Germany, Canada and the United States.
The Lee Shun Tak Hotel forms a neutral space to offer guests all the most modern luxury rooms and communication facilities, where China's first telephone was installed.