Photo丨 Beijing Hotel
preface
"Behind is the Forbidden City, facing Chang'an Avenue, the left hand Wangfujing, the right hand Tiananmen", this just to use words, you can feel the unique geographical location, is the Beijing Hotel.
History of Beijing Hotel
The Beijing Hotel was founded in 1900, which was the era of small hotels and taverns.
Before the late Qing Dynasty, there were almost no hotels, inns and other places in China, and most of the inns and guest houses that could provide food and accommodation for pedestrians were outside the city, mainly for the convenience of coachmen, so there would be special services for feeding livestock.
Therefore, the environment of these inns is mostly very poor, not only has the taste of animals, there is no bed, no bedding, if you want to stay in the hotel, as long as you give the shopkeeper a few dollars, the owner will lay a chicken feather on the ground for you, and then curl up on it for a night.
Figure丨The inn at the end of the Qing Dynasty
After the Opium War in 1840, foreign merchants, industrialists, and speculators set foot on Chinese soil, and such a food and accommodation environment was obviously unable to meet their needs, so some hotels and taverns with better environments began to appear in areas where foreigners often visited.
In 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance entered the Forbidden City, and in an instant, the city of Beijing was occupied by countless blonde foreigners, and it was in this year that the French people Pong Zha and Bai Laidi established the predecessor of the Beijing Hotel.
At that time, the Beijing Hotel was just a tavern, mainly serving red and white wine, as well as some snacks such as fried eggs and pork chops.
The following year, the two owners expanded their operations and officially hung the sign of "Beijing Hotel" for the tavern, which they probably thought was full of oriental mysteries and was the seat of the emperor and the center of China.
At the same time, Bai Lai withdrew his shares and reopened a tavern, the Italian Bertrand chose to join it, and as the business filled up, the money became more and more earned, and the two bosses were scattered because of uneven distribution.
When Bertrand went to find Bai Laidi, Bertrand found an Italian named Lu su to partner, and later Bertrand died, and the Beijing Hotel became Lu Su's own business.
Figure 丨 A foreigner sitting on a dragon chair
On September 7, the "Xinugu Treaty" was signed, overseas gold diggers flocked to beijing hotels, the business of Beijing hotels was better, in 1903, Lu Su moved the hotel to the current location of the land, and also planned to build a 5-story high-end hotel.
At that time, there was not a single 5-story building in the whole city of Beijing, and it is conceivable that Lu Su's ambitions were not small, and as a result, the house was half built and the lack of funds stopped.
Sino-French Industrial Bank took over the ruined Beijing Hotel, and it was not long before the beijing hotel was completed and quickly on track.
The reason why Sino-French Industrial Bank has this "magic" is because it has a big head, and the Chinese initiators of this bank are Wang Kemin and Zhou Ziqi, both important members of the Beiyang government.
Some people say that it was "opened by President Yuan Da and the French", although it is not particularly prepared, but it is also inseparable, both the support of the Beiyang government, as well as the support of the French, and it is not a problem to revive a small hotel.
Figure丨China French Industrial Bank banknote picking round
The Beijing Hotel, which was taken over by Sino-French Industrial Bank, has become the most luxurious hotel in Beijing, with a full range of room facilities, as well as bars, dance floors, barbershops and other services.
In addition to the good environment, the Beijing Hotel also has an advantage, that is, it is a "safe haven" for celebrities and politicians at home and abroad, with war and smoke outside, but inside it is brightly dressed and staggered.
At that time, the Beijing Hotel cost thirty or forty yuan a day, equivalent to a month's salary of a primary school teacher, but despite this, there were still too many people who wanted to enter the Beijing Hotel, especially when the war started, and even some people were willing to spend a lot of money to rent a section of its corridor.
After the Lugou Bridge Incident, the Japanese army occupied the city of Beijing, the "umbrella" function of the Beijing Hotel was completely invalidated, the business plummeted, and after the sale of stocks in 1940, the Japanese immediately bought more than half, so the Beijing Hotel became the "Beijing Hotel Co., Ltd."
The owner of the Beijing hotel has become Japanese, and the guests have become Japanese, from top to bottom, only the word "Beijing" in the name can see a little Chinese shadow.
Pictured: A Japanese woman in beijing
With the success of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Beijing Hotel was taken over by the Kuomintang Beiping government and became a guest house for receiving senior U.S. generals, and the fate of the Beijing Hotel took a turn for the liberation of Beiping in 1949.
On October 1, the Beijing Hotel hosted the first state banquet in New China, and since then, the Beijing Hotel has become a "state banquet professional household".
In addition to hosting state banquets, Beijing Hotel is also an important place to entertain foreign guests.
Expansion of the Beijing Hotel
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Beijing Hotel underwent two expansions, one in 1954 and one in 1974.
In the 1970s, the international situation was turbulent. In 1971, China gained a legitimate seat in the United Nations, in 1972 Nixon visited China, followed by Tanaka Kakuei visited China...
Pictured: Nixon's visit to China
With the increase of foreign affairs in New China, hotels that entertain foreign guests began to be in short supply, especially Beijing hotels, which often entertained two groups of guests a day.
In this case, the expansion of the Beijing Hotel must be put on the agenda, and Zhou Enlai made a request:
Originally only more than 300 rooms, the Beijing Hotel needed to be expanded to have more than 1,000 rooms, and at the same time, it also needed to accommodate at least 2,000 people, such as food and living, entertainment and social activities and diplomatic negotiations.
The director of the Military Control Commission of the Beijing Hotel took up this task, and he immediately went to the Beijing Architectural Design Institute to convey Zhou Enlai's request to the designer Zhang Bao.
Speaking of the designer Zhang Wei, he was the son of Zhang Mingqi, the last governor of Liangguang in the Qing Dynasty. Although his father was rich and powerful, their family's education was that "the family has good land, it is better to be a thin skill", so Zhang Bi chose the construction industry.
Zhang Bao, who had served as the chief designer of the Great Hall of the People, accepted the task as a matter of course after learning about the expansion of the Beijing Hotel, although by this time, he was already in his sixties.
Figure 丨 Zhang Fu
The person in charge of the hotel asked him how long it would take, and after Zhang Wei evaluated, he gave the answer of "3 years", and After Zhou Enlai knew, he said that it was "too late".
Zhang Wei can only work overtime, trying to make the best plan in the shortest time, so stayed up for a while, Zhang Wei fell ill, fortunately he boiled out 20 sets of expansion plans.
The plan was quickly handed over to Zhou Enlai, and after repeated comparisons, Zhou Enlai selected a set of plans numbered "20", and then he ordered someone to make a model and place it in the center of the Beijing Hotel, and the leaders at all levels watched and put forward their opinions.
With such a swing, there are really new problems. In this plan, the height of the east building of the Beijing Hotel is 50 meters, which is almost 14 stories high, so Li Xiannian, vice premier of the State Council, proposed:
"Beijing land is tight, occupy a piece of less than a piece, so in the conditional place, the building can be built high point, like the Beijing Hotel, such a location, should be developed to the high-rise, more rooms to build ah."
Li Xiannian's words are not unreasonable, in that era, everyone thought more about "economic applicability", so Zhang's old plan was abandoned, and it was not long before a "130-meter-high" plan was freshly baked.
Figure 丨 Li Xiannian
After comprehensive consideration, Li Xiannian decided to compromise and set the height as "100 meters", Zhang Wei re-planned the design, and a few days later, he came up with a "100.25 meters" design drawing.
After the model made this time, anyone who looked at it was satisfied, and no one put forward any opinions, the plan was finalized, and in 1973, the expansion project of the Beijing Hotel was officially launched.
The construction speed is very fast, the workers are working day and night, the Beijing Hotel is rising almost at a rate of one floor a week, and by the time of the National Day, the construction of the 13th floor has begun, at this time, Zhang Yongyin feels that something is not quite right.
After the 14th floor was repaired, one day, an engineer asked Zhang Wei during small talk, "Which direction of the new east building is the best room?" ”
Zhang Yi was violently agitated, and he suddenly reacted to where the wrong he had felt before came from: looking out from the existing 14th floor of the Beijing Hotel, the entire Beijing City could be seen, including Zhongnanhai.
After realizing this problem, Zhang Wei immediately proposed to the person in charge of the hotel:
On the side of the new east building near Zhongnanhai, the doors and windows of all public facilities and guest rooms are made of invisible materials such as printing or frosted; in addition, the rooms on this side are forbidden to arrange foreign guests to stay to avoid spying on Zhongnanhai.
Pictured by Wang Dongxing and Mao Zedong
At the same time, Wang Dongxing, then director of the Security Bureau of the General Office of the Central Committee, also discovered this problem, and one day, while inspecting Zhongnanhai, he suddenly found an extra tall building that he had never seen in Zhongnanhai.
The tall building is still under construction, because the construction team members on the top floor can see every move of themselves, suddenly, Wang Dongxing realized that he can see the people working in the Beijing Hotel, so can't the people in the Beijing Hotel not see the inside of Zhongnanhai, can't see Mao Zedong and other leaders in Zhongnanhai?
In the past, the Beijing Hotel only had 5 floors, and under the cover of the high wall of Zhongnanhai, it was impossible to see the interior, but now, the Beijing Hotel has 14 floors and is still pulling out the high school, so that the entire Zhongnanhai sea is exposed.
Moreover, Beijing Hotels often entertain foreign guests... Thinking of this, Wang Dongxing shuddered, and he quickly reported to Zhou Enlai that the Beijing Hotel would threaten Zhongnanhai.
Picture 丨 Zhou Enlai
Soon, Yang Dexing, political commissar of the Central Guard Corps, was ordered by Zhou Enlai to come to the construction site of the Beijing Hotel and inform him of the following news:
Zhou Enlai had already seen the lights of the construction team in Zhongnanhai at night, and the existing construction height of the Beijing Hotel had threatened the safety of Zhongnanhai and needed to be stopped immediately.
Everyone present took a breath of cool air, but Yang Dexing also said that Zhou Enlai did not mean to blame, but the project needed to be stopped immediately, and it was necessary to brainstorm and find a way to solve it.
Some people proposed to raise the noon gate of the Forbidden City to block the external line of sight, Zhou Enlai immediately vetoed, the Beijing Hotel is already 14 stories high, the noon gate must be raised to what extent, in order to completely block it? Not to mention that the Forbidden City is a cultural relic, and it is impossible for you to tear down the bricks at will.
Yang Dexing, out of security concerns in Zhongnanhai, proposed to dismantle 4 layers. Because 10 floors is a standard, at this level, you can probably see the upper part of Zhongnanhai, and once you exceed 10 floors, you can see everything.
This plan was also rejected by Zhou Enlai, demolishing 4 floors, equivalent to wasting so much manpower and material resources, and finally, Zhou Enlai made a decision: the Beijing Hotel building needs to stop at the 15th floor of the standard floor.
However, the designers asked their own questions, and although there was no need to hastily dismantle it, it stopped at the 15th floor and the previous design was completely disrupted.
This can't work, that can't work, no way, Zhou Enlai called the designers to a meeting overnight!
The final workaround
At 12:00 p.m., Zhang Wei and other designers came to the West Hall of the Great Hall of the People and met Zhou Enlai. Zhou Enlai went straight to the point, pointed to the 10th floor of the model and said,
"Regarding the expansion project of the Beijing Hotel, the 14th floor can be stopped, and the floors that have been built and have more than 10 floors will not be demolished, but they will not be open to the public, just in case, the doors and windows will be covered."
As for how to cover, Zhou Enlai has not yet thought it out, but this is the professionalism of the designer Zhang Bao, who made suggestions.
"The west-facing wall surface is all made into a physical shading wall, so that it can completely cover the west and north lines of sight inside the hotel, and Zhongnanhai naturally cannot be seen."
Moreover, there is another advantage of doing so, as soon as the northwest wind in Beijing comes, the wind and sand can directly confuse people who can't open their eyes, the wall is an entity, and the problem of wind and sand is naturally solved.
After some discussion, the plan was decided, and Zhou Enlai couldn't help but sigh, "It's still the 50-meter plan before." ”
Picture 丨Zhang Di (second from right) and Zhou Enlai (first from right)
Zhang Bao reviewed to Zhou Enlai, saying that he knew that there were restrictions in planning, and later emphasized saving land and improving land utilization, so he ignored this problem, "I did not fulfill my duties." ”
Zhou Enlai did not blame Zhang At all, but continued to consider the design problem, he put forward a suggestion, "Making a large roof is too expensive, can it be made into a small slope, which is conducive to drainage, and people can't go up." ”
Zhang Wei thought about it for a while, thinking that this design was also very good-looking, and he thought to himself, although Zhou Enlai was not engaged in architecture, the suggestions given were indeed very sharp.
Two hours passed in a flash, Zhang Biao and other designers bid farewell to Zhou Enlai, went back to their homes to rest, and after Zhang Bi returned to his residence, he did not rest, but continued to conceive and revise the plan.
Suddenly, he had a brilliant idea: to build a screen tower in Xihua Gate to block the view. He immediately began the specific design, and a few days later, Zhou Enlai received the new design drawings and expressed great satisfaction.
The construction of the Beijing Hotel continued, and one day, Zhang Wei received a phone call saying that Zhou Enlai had arrived at the construction site, and Zhang Bao rushed over, and the staff at the scene told him that Zhou Enlai had taken the elevator to the top floor.
After a while, Zhou Enlai came down, and then, accompanied by Zhang Wei and others, went to the Great Hall of the People to dine. After eating, Zhou Enlai proposed again, and wanted to continue to walk around to see where it was suitable for repairing the screen building.
Zhang Wei looked at Zhou Enlai, who was walking one foot deep and one foot shallow in the construction site, at this time, he had been diagnosed with cancer, his physical condition was very poor, and he seemed to have only a handful of bones left. However, he is still working hard and paying close attention to matters related to the Beijing Hotel and more national events.
Soon after, an antique screen building was erected on the west side of XihuaMen, and Zhou Enlai stressed, "Before the screen building is completed, the new east building is not allowed to open even if it is completed." ”
To this day, Beijing Hotel still shoulders the responsibility of receiving heads of state, celebrities and dignitaries, since 1900, Beijing Hotel has witnessed historical changes and changes in the times, and in the future, it will continue to witness China's prosperity and strength.