FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan 28, 2007
Media Contacts:
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U.S. Office: Margot Kong Imperial Tours 888-888-1970 web_inquiry@imperialtours.net
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Germany Office: Marlis Leo Imperial Tours +49 69 864259 web_inquiry@imperialtours.net |
Imperial Tours Opens European Office and Expands U.S. Office
San Francisco, Calif. – Imperial Tours announces the opening of its first European office in Frankfurt, Germany. This office will be headed by Marlis Leo and staffed by Nicole Grundler and Benjamin Ceccarelli. Ms. Leo and her team will be responsible for sales and marketing of Imperial Tours' luxury private tours of China to the German-speaking countries of Europe including Germany, Austria, Luxemburg and German-speaking Switzerland.
"For several years, it has been Imperial Tours intention to grow our European business," commented Guy Rubin, Managing Partner of Imperial Tours. "Marlis is a travel industry veteran and has good contacts in the Beijing government, having organized a tour to Germany for such individuals as the mayor of Beijing. Marlis and Imperial Tours are an excellent match and have very similar ideas about how our tours should operate."
To support Imperial Tours' sales to the German-speaking market, the company has hired a Beijing-based German speaking China Host to lead private tours and plans to recruit additional Hosts this spring. Additionally, the company is launching its websites in Spanish, French and German:
http://www.imperialtours.es
http://www.imperialtours.eu
http://www.imperialtours.de
Imperial Tours has also expanded its U.S. operations by hiring David Goodman-Smith to round out its sales team in their San Francisco office, headed by Margot Kong. Mr. Goodman-Smith, who is half English and half American, recently returned after living and working in Yingkou, China for over a year. He speaks a smattering of Chinese and has had several years of experience in the service and hospitality industries. Mr. Goodman-Smith studied Chinese History at university and is excited to share his passion for China with Imperial Tours' guests.
About Imperial Tours
Imperial Tours offers luxury set-departure and private tours of China, combining local expertise with the high levels of service and quality expected by sophisticated Western travelers. Imperial Tours has first-hand knowledge of world-class hotels and restaurants as well as the history, culture, arts, and little-known exclusive destinations within China. Founded in 1999, Imperial Tours operates out of Beijing, China; San Francisco, California; and Frankfurt, Germany. For more information, visit www.imperialtours.net or call 888-888-1970.
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Contents Luxury Travel News Hotel/Restaurant News Calendar Odds N' Ends – David Spindler Interview Discovery – Sanxingdui |
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Dear Guy, From our founding, Imperial Tours' Monthly Group tours and FITs have challenged the notion that there are no sophisticated venues in China. Seven years later, it is widely accepted that China boasts some of the world's most avant-garde architecture, restaurants and contemporary art. Now, Imperial Tours is challenging the presumption that China provides few sophisticated venues outside the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. In our last two broadcasts, we publicized a new and incredible contemporary art park near Guilin. We dedicate this broadcast to re-gearing your expectations ofChengdu, the thrilling capital of Sichuan province. Home to one of China's most famous cooking traditions, this town's top restaurant is currently hosting Prince Charles' personal chef! With a history of thousands of years, Chengdu is home to much more than the famed Panda Research Institute. Sanxingdui is a nearby tourist site that in artistry and mystery surpasses the Terracotta Warriors. In addition to a review of Chengdu's wonderful restaurants and top hotels, this broadcast contains:
First, some luxury travel news: |
Virtuoso's China Onsite Traveling China…in style Phone us at 888 888 1970 |
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Luxury Travel News Imperial Tours is delighted to offer passengers on its Monthly Group tours and FITs the opportunity ofan exclusive, private visit to the turbine generator room and hi-tech control center at the Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam project in the world. This tour finishes with a walk along the top of the dam. Normally these areas are restricted, off-limits military areas, so Imperial Tours is thrilled to be able to offer this unique opportunity. Imperial Tours Announces Partnership With Viking River Cruises Customers on Imperial Tours' Monthly Group and FIT tours are now able to book Viking River Cruises' boats on the Yangzi River. Viking's superior facilities and cuisine have established it as the Yangzi River's leading cruise provider. Preparation for 2008 Olympics Affects Beijing's Tourist Sites Renovation of the temples on Longevity Hill at the Summer Palace is scheduled to soon finish. However scaffolding has gone up around the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven, where it will remain until May 2006. Similarly, many of the side corridors in the Forbidden City are covered in scaffolding and are off-limits. Booking the 2008 Beijing Olympics Many of you are wondering about hotel bookings and tours for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The situation is that the Beijing Olympic Committee is still finalizing plans to reserve up to 23,000 hotel rooms for the Olympics Games period. This will account for up to 80% of the city's total guestroom inventory for three-star and above hotels, giving it near monopoly control of bookings. Only when such arrangements are finalized can the remaining 20% capacity be allocated. Until that time, the best you can do is have your bookings placed on waiting lists that the better hotels are keeping. We will keep you abreast of further developments. China Becomes World's Fourth Most Popular Destination In 2004, China became the world's fourth most popular destination (42 million arrivals) after France (75.1 million arrivals), Spain and the United States. Italy fell to fifth position. Meanwhile, Hong Kong climbed in the rankings to become the seventh most visited destination in the world. Similarly, speaking at the 10th Annual Institute for Travel Writing and Photography, Arthur Frommer noted that China would rank first as Americans' most popular overseas destination this year. Imperial Tours runs Educational Tours in March and November each year. Please contact Margot Kong at 888 888 1970, to book your place on the Educational trip for March 2006, so that you can learn more about selling China. New Flight Routes
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Restaurant News May 2006 Culinary Tour We congratulate Jereme Leung, chef and owner of Shanghai's Whampoa Club on being described as a culinary "genius" by author Patricia Wells in the "International Herald Tribune" this May. Imperial Tours used Jereme's fabulous restaurant as soon as it opened last year, and is delighted to announce that Jereme will be demonstrating his skills on the Shanghai portion of Imperial Tours May 2006 Culinary Tour. Please click here for details. Chengdu Restaurant Review Gingko Restaurant has long been home to Sichuanese dining excellence in Chengdu. Their fashionable new restaurant on Renmin Street, designed by the company responsible for the interiors at Shanghai's Grand Hyatt (a Virtuoso property), really puts them on the map. Currently, Prince Charles' personal chef is the guest chef at the Western section of this restaurant, which also offers Japanese and Cantonese food. My Humble House is the brainchild of award-winning Singaporean restaurateur Andrew Tjoie. Although his Beijing restaurant is equally well known for its excellent cuisine, the ambiance of the Chengdu restaurant within a bamboo-lined park is more scenic. The cuisine at Han She is not typically Sichuanese. The menu, as exciting as the interior design, reaches out also to Hunanase, Cantonese and South-East Asian traditions. No visit to Chengdu is complete without indulging yourself to a Sichuanese Hot-pot. We would recommend Huangcheng Laoma Restaurant. Its wonderfully-designed restaurant offers a highly enjoyable experience. Additionally, this restaurant is sensitive to foreigners' palettes and can tone down the spiciness of its soups on request. Hotel News Peninsula Hotel, Beijing Opens Its Presidential Suite At last! The Peninsula Hotel in Beijing has finished a long series of renovations to its 6,000 square feet Presidential Suite. Most stunning is the false Chinese traditional roof that spans the entire length of the suite. Equally successful is the delightful fretwork of the wooden screens that accompany the baths in both bedrooms' ensuite bathrooms. The intricate mosaic in the smooth, marble floor is beautiful. These features accompany hi-tech features such as a short-wave radio center and an impressive array of entertainment and business equipment. New Luxury Hotels In China
Review of Chengdu's Five Star Hotels Chengdu's Kempinski Hotel makes up for a lacklustre lobby with the most modern and spacious bedrooms in the city (a standard room is 340 square feet large). While the design of some of the public areas could be improved, this hotel offers good service in the bedrooms, restaurants and at the front desk. Although the Kempinski is not situated in the very center of the downtown area, it is in a highly gentrified part of the city close to some of the city's best restaurants and bars. The glass-fronted lobby at the Chengdu Sheraton provides a bright entrance to the reassuringly calming tones of its well-designed lobby. Its bedrooms, which are now looking a little worn, are generally smaller (300 – 330 square feet) than those at the Kempinski and the bathrooms, though serviceable, feel a little tight. For example, they do not have a separate shower stall. The hotel is well-located in the center of the downtown area. |
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Beijing July 23: Real Madrid, the world's most expensive soccer team sporting stars of the caliber of David Beckham, Luis Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo amongst others play an exhibition match against Beijing Hyundai at the Worker's Stadium. Price; RMB 180, 380, 680, 1080, 1580, 3000, 5000 July 26: Manchester United, the world's most famous soccer club, brings its star-studded team to play Beijing Hyundai at the Worker's Stadium. Players such as Rooney, Giggs and Ronaldo will delight Chinese fans. Price: 80, 280, 480, 780, 1180. July 30 – 31: With the assistance of French Director, Daniel Mesguich and conductor Francois-Xavier Roth, the Chinese National Opera puts on a suitably surreal performance of Offenbach's "Les Contes De Hoffman" at the Poly Theater. Price: RMB 80, 180, 280, 380, 580, 680. August 2 – 7: Jungle Adventures, Disney's On Ice Show that combines tunes from The Jungle Book, The Lion King and Tarzan will be on at the Workers Gymnasium. Price: RMB 80, 180, 280, 360, 380, 500 August 12: leading Celtic instrumentalists, the Battlefield Band, dazzle Beijing audiences with their bagpipes and fiddles in a Scottish musical extravaganza at the Century Theater. Price: RMB 280, 380, 580, 880, 1280, 1680 August 20: The First IBA World Boxing Championship takes place in China at the Capital Gymasium, culminating with a Man's Heavyweight Championship bout. Sep 10 – 26: Marat Safin, Carlos Moya and Rafael Nadal will be amongst the competitors for the 2005 China Tennis Open takes place at Beijing's National Tennis Center. Price: Not yet available. October 2: Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa leads the Japanese National Orchestra for a performance of "Il Barbiere Di Siviglia" at the Poly Plaza Theatrer. Price: RMB 180, 280, 380, 580, 880, 1280 Shanghai July 19 – 24: Jungle Adventures, Disney's On Ice Show that combines tunes from The Jungle Book, The Lion King and Tarzan will be on at the Workers Gymnasium. Price: RMB 100, 200, 280 July 22: Los Angeles Children's Chorus performs a wide variety of songs at Shanghai Concert Hall . Price: RMB 60, 80, 120, 160, 200 July 26: Bloc Business, the deep house Austrian band combining live music with dj-line, perform on the Shanghai Grand Stage. Price: RMB 80, 120, 160, 220. Sep 30 – Oct 1: "Ode to the Autumn Modern Dance Series III" collects contemporary Chinese dancers from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in an exciting, avant-garde series at the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre. Price: RMB 80, 120, 260, 320, 380, 580 October 16: 2005 Shanghai Formula One Grand Prix takes place at the Shangahi International Circuit. Price: RMB 160, 330, 370, 450, 970, 1080, 1880, 2880, 3580, 3980. Please note that you must book as early as possible to be assured of getting hotel rooms in Shanghai over the Formula One Weekend. |
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Great Wall Specialist David Spindler has more achievements under his belt than most of us dare to dream of: he followed his Dartmouth College degree in Asian Studies with an M.A. in Han dynasty history (in Chinese) at Beijing University. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he joined the consulting firm McKinsey & Company in Beijing. Since leaving consulting in 2002, he has dedicated himself full-time to researching the history of the Great Wall of China. We caught up with him in Beijing. 1) How did you become interested in researching the Great Wall of China? I went on my first overnight hike on the wall in the fall of 1994: being in the outdoors, visiting remote places, getting away from a crowded city have always been attractive to me. Hiking on the Great Wall allowed me to do all of these things at once. Over the next six years, my wall hikes continued with increasing frequency until in the summer of 2000, I started work on a book about the history of the Great Wall in the Beijing area. 2)Surely this is a crowded area of academic interest. What do you aim to add to it? Actually, it is a surprisingly uncrowded field. I do not know of a single academic anywhere whose major field of interest is the Great Wall, leaving open the possibility that I may be able to make a real contribution to our understanding of the Great Wall. I hope to explain how Mongol action shaped and changed China's defenses against its northern neighbors through the use of border fortifications during the course of the Ming dynasty. 3) People think of the Great Wall as one continuous fortification stretching across the breadth of China. Is that right? The idea you mention is a common myth, both inside and outside China. First, the "one wall" issue. Many different dynasties built walls, in different places, and at different times during each dynasty. The result is a web of roughly parallel walls stretching across China's northern border, from points as far east as Pyongyang in Korea to as far west as the region of Xinjiang in northwestern China. Next, the "continuous wall" myth: none of these northern border walls, later collectively termed "the Great Wall," are, or ever were, continuous, unbroken structures from their origin to their terminus. They were only continuous in the places most susceptible to attack-flat areas, valleys, mountain passes. Outside of these areas, in more rugged, mountainous terrain, builders of border fortifications commonly built a series of signal towers with no wall connecting them. 4)How would you describe the Great Wall of China? I like to use three concepts when thinking about "the" Great Wall. The first, and most inclusive, I term the "Great Wall Line." This delineates the border that defenders were trying to prevent raiders from crossing. It may or may not have border wall or any other structure on it. The second, narrower concept is "Great Wall Structure," which I view as encompassing both walls and signal towers, whether or not there is continuous wall between them. The third concept refers to continuous walls termed "Border Walls" in places deemed likely to be raided. All three of these concepts are important in describing what I like to call a "Great Wall Defense Line." 5) In your opinion, did the Great Wall work or was it a waste of manpower, time and money? First, let's talk about what the Ming rulers were trying to do in defending their northern border and what resources they had at their disposal. After the 1420s, the Ming army no longer had the capability of going on campaigns far north of their territory to engage and defeat powerful Mongol groups. They were thus left to defend their border by deploying troops along it. In doing so, they needed to choose a border whose natural features like passes, ridges, and mountains made it most easily defendable. Once they had determined where they were going to defend against raiders, the Ming had to permanently station soldiers along the border to fight and send along signals of enemy movements. The Great Wall, with its towers and parapets, provided a way to house troops and serve as a permanent, fortified, line of defense. If one wants to consider the question of whether building and operating border fortifications was justified, one has to think of the Ming empire's alternatives, which were to pull back from its northern border or simply to defend people by enclosing them in small forts. Given the Ming dynasty goals of territorial control and protection of the livelihood of its population, there was really no alternative to a permanently fortified line of defense. Empires and nation-states tend to defend their territory at all costs, and the Ming is no exception. States throughout history have nearly always viewed a loss of territory as an unacceptably high cost. Your question also brings up another frequently mentioned, though I believe misguided line of inquiry about the Great Wall, by focusing on whether "it" worked. In fielding this question, I like to borrow a line from gun rights lobbyists in the United States: "Guns don't kill people, people do." I change that slogan around a bit to say, "Walls don't keep raiders out, people do." By that I mean Great Wall fortifications were simply a capital asset, that when used in conjunction with a well-informed, well-trained military, could be a significant deterrent to Mongol raids. 6)What types of sources do you use in your original research? Source materials about the Great Wall for the pre-Ming period are quite limited. The Ming dynasty is an entirely different story. The challenge for the researcher is that materials are scattered widely. The types of sources I find most helpful are official petitions and proposals (called memorials by Western sinologists), specialized Ming works on the Great Wall, and a day-by-day history of the Ming dynasty compiled after the reign of each Ming emperor called the Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty. Some of these works have been photographically reprinted within the past fifty years and are available in libraries worldwide. Others have not been reprinted, and it is necessary to visit the library (and it may be just one!) that holds any extant copies of the work. To that end, I have visited libraries in China, Japan, and the U.S. as part of this project. 7)Your guided tours and lectures teach visitors how to view and understand different sections of the Great Wall. Which section of the Great Wall do people most enjoy? People frequently ask me what my "favorite" section of the Great Wall is. I don't have one-I simply like them all, though for different reasons. Where you should visit the Wall depends on how much time you have, your level of interest in seeing the sites of important Ming battles along it, your interest in hiking, and your level of aversion to seeing other people when you're there. I find that people who have the opportunity to learn about the history behind the Wall and why most of the popularly-held conceptions about it are false, and who make an informed choice based on the above factors thoroughly enjoy their visit. My own interest is in history, so I certainly prefer to take visitors to spots along the Wall where there were important raids and wall construction projects during Ming times. For the Beijing region, that usually means going northeast, where a major river valley provided attractive access for potential raiders to the city of Beijing. 8) As interesting as the Great Wall may be to some people, history can be pretty dry. What do you do to bring the Wall alive for your audiences? During my research, I pay particular attention to collecting interesting tidbits about vice, cruelty, corruption, and natural resource overuse along the Great Wall. I share these nuggets with visitors in the form of anecdotes, direct quotes from Ming officials about the Wall, and ballads composed by ordinary (and therefore illiterate) soldiers that reflect their own experiences on the Wall. David Spindler is available to accompany guests to the Great Wall on FIT itineraries. |
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Sanxingdui is a stunning archeological site close to Chengdu, the capital of China's westerly Sichuan province. The first artifacts to be discovered at Sanxingdui were 400 different colored jade pieces, dating as far back as the fifth millennium BCE, hence contemporaneous with the earliest Egyptian relics. These were serendipitously uncovered by farmer Yan Daocheng while he was out digging an irrigation ditch with his son in 1929. Authorities were quickly informed of this find, but excavations begun in the early 1930's were interrupted by China's civil war. It was not before 1986 that China, now under a Communist government, again had the academic stability and financial resources to fund a major archaeological dig. In light of known Chinese archeological evidence of the time, the results of these extensive digs, which unearthed two sacrificial burial pits, went well beyond the highest expectations of the most demanding of the gathered academics. Who could have dreamed of finding a six foot high cast bronze shaman figure dating back to the late Shang dynasty – over 3,000 years old (pictured left) – or a series of three foot by three foot cast bronze human heads covered in gold leaf? These have since become an emblem of Sanxingdui. Perhaps the most remarkable set of objects are a series of cast bronze "sacred trees" on which stand molded bronze singing birds! All these stand apart from the 100,000 earthenware pieces, and hundreds of bronze, jade and lacquer wares. Nor do they include the 400-piece gold scepter, jade tablets, jade dagger axes or various ivory objects, including over 60 elephant tusks. Compounding the archeological wealth of Sanxingdui is the silence of any historical record positioning this self-evidently, advanced civilization within the context of China's pre-history. The collision of archeology with history – of discovered artifacts of obvious cultural sophistication with a totally unexplained provenance- has wrapped the stunning Sanxingdui site and museum in a shroud of mystery. It is an enigma as perplexing, intriguing and compelling as that of the Egyptian pyramids. To view a Chinese national website showing photographs of Sanxingdui artifacts, please click here. Imperial Tours includes a visit to Sanxingdui in its FIT itineraries to Chengdu. |
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We hope you enjoyed this newsletter. As always, please do write back with any feedback that you would like us to incorporate. Alternatively, please call Margot Kong, our Director of Sales and Marketing, in San Francisco, at 888 888 1970. With Best Regards, To forward this newsletter to a friend, please click here. |
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Contents China Travel News Hotel/Restaurant News Calendar Odds N Ends Discovery – Braille Without Borders |
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Dear Guy, This April issue includes:
Additionally, we congratulate the actors and actresses nominated for this year's Academy Awards with a gift of a private Imperial tour to China. We look forward to welcoming them. First, some travel news: |
Virtuoso's China Onsite Traveling China…in style Phone us at 888 888 1970 |
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China Travel News Okay Airlines, a new budget airline in China, was recently launched. With 2 Boeing 737-900s and plans for another 4, this privately owned airline plans to link lesser known provincial airports. This is not China's first budget airline, but it is the first of a new breed of low cost carriers that seek to compare themselves to western models. (We note that their maiden flight touched down 1 hour late.) Facts & Stats On The Chinese Outbound Travel Market The China outbound market is growing by an average of 21% per year with Australia (32%), France (27%) and the U.S. (21%) as Beijingers' top three overseas destinations. The average expenditure of Chinese tourists is also increasing: since 2003 mainland Chinese have been outspending American tourists in Hong Kong. According to Glenn Tilton, CEO of United Airlines, China is creating 6 million new air passengers every year. China Requests U.S. Help To Curb Smuggling of China's Art While Christie's and Sotheby's report a doubling in sales of Chinese antiquities and art between 2003 and 2004, China's government is showing new steel in curbing the theft and subsequent smuggling of objects from China's provincial museums and grave-sites. Under a proposed new customs regime, American visitors will only be able to import items less than a hundred years old. It remains to be seen if the U.S. customs will go along with China's plea for help. Imperial Tours Airport Pick-ups Imperial Tours is now arranging to pick up all your customers from the airplane gangway as soon as their plane docks at Beijing International Airport. This service will be automatically included in all our itineraries arriving at this airport. Customers who wish to expedite their passage through Chinese customs at Beijing Airport by using a special channel can apply for this service, which Imperial Tours offers for an additional charge. Please inquire for details. Airline News The 36% increase in (highly profitable) passenger traffic between the U.S. and China between 2003 and 2004 is provoking competition between the financially straitened US airlines for new air routes. Continental Airlines has announced that it received approval to become the first U.S. passenger carrier to offer daily, direct flights to Beijing from its hub at New York/Newark Liberty International Airport beginning June 15th. Meanwhile American Airline's triumphant application for a direct flight from Chicago to Shanghai came at the expense of Atlanta airport from which there is still no direct service to China. In the European market, Lufthansa German Airlines on March 27th started a new daily non-stop flight between Frankfurt and Guangzhou linking the two countries' industrial heartlands. Cathay Pacific, the British carrier based in Hong Kong, reported that 2004 provided its second best year of profits ever. Since then it has bought a 10% stake in Air China, mainland China's flag carrier. News From the WTO The least known of the three WTOs, the "World Toilet Organization", is delighted by the US$48 million that Beijing has earmarked to build 2,800 brand new public toilets for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Sources report that the spokesman for Singapore, which sees itself as a trail-blazer in toilet technology, pooh-poohed China's sanitary success. |
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Restaurant News Shanghai For Glam sor, Beijing For Glory With "Jean-Georges" and "Sens & Bund" stealing the limelight in recent months, it has seemed as though Shanghai was taking all the press in China's vibrant restaurant scene. Beijing has responded wonderfully with "Jin Feng Gu Yun". Situated inside the precincts of a Buddhist temple with a history of over a thousand years, the kitchen – inside which the restaurant is located – was used in the eighteenth century to serve Qing dynasty Emperors. This restaurant, now between its soft and hard opening, is hard to find and so not appropriate for independent travelers to Beijing. Although its food and ambiance is wonderful for corporate entertainment and high end foreign visitors, the wine list is currently limited. We have been assured that this will be remedied before the restaurant's grand opening in May. Travel To Lhasa With A Private Chef Of Historic Significance Imperial Tours is pleased to welcome Chef Jin to its China-based staff. Chef Jin previously worked as the Executive Chef at the Peninsula Palace Hotel in Beijing. He is qualified to the highest level in both Chinese and Western cuisine. As well as taking responsibility for Imperial Tours' privately catered meals – such as our signature white-linen banquet atop the Great Wall – Chef Jin is available to accompany private tours around China, especially pertinent for trips to Lhasa. History buffs will find it fascinating to meet Chef Jin since he formerly worked as the personal chef of General Zhang Zhen, a key military leader during China's civil war and a supporter of Deng Xiao Ping during the reform era thirty years later, Hotel News Marriott's Worldwide Expansion Continues Apace In China With 30 hotels in China already, Marriott foresees itself adding six or seven new properties annually. Review of Hotels In The Guilin Area The third in our hotel review series looks at Guilin. This is prompted by the recent opening of the Hotel of Modern Art. Hotel of Modern Art, Yuzi Paradise – "Very seldom do I walk around with my mouth hanging down. There's major art money in Fortworth but they don't have anything like this,"commented Valerie Riefenstahl of Sanders Travel during her recent visit. Yuzi Paradise is a contemporary art production and exhibition complex located within 1,650 acres of stunning karst scenery. With a busily functioning atelier producing glass, bronze, ceramics and stoneware as well as prints and photography, this contemporary art center, which boasts 115 monumental sculptures by internationally renowned artists from 25 countries, is more than just a place to spend the night. It offers a fascinating journey into China's contemporary art scene. The Hotel of Modern Art has only just opened and is in the process of appying for five star status. The new hotel wing with standardized rooms is not scheduled to open until June 2005. Currently, Imperial Tours is using rooms in the owner's private residence for FITs by special arrangement. Their suites range from 300 to 1700 square feet. Group tours are accommodated in the Reception Center in a variety of rooms ranging from 250 to 325 square feet. Sheraton Hotel, Guilin – Originally constructed by the Korean company, Daewoo, the Sheraton Hotel in Guilin has long been the premier five star hotel in Guilin. At its opening in 1988, it was no doubt a startling innovation in Guilin, which at the time only offered basic amenities. However, the bedrooms are quite dated now. That said, the service at this hotel, run by Guilin's most experienced staff, is good. Standard rooms start at 270 square feet and the largest suite is 530 square feet. The Waterfall Hotel, Guilin – This three star hotel was completely rebuilt and renovated to Chinese five star standards at the end of 2002. The opening fanfare was accompanied by the international attention garnered by the hotel's trumpeting of the world's tallest artificial waterfall. However, maintenance is not what it could be, and as a result this comparatively new hotel is already starting to look down at heel. Standard rooms range from 250 – 300 square feet, the suites from 300 – 400 square feet. Bailelai Paradise Resort Hotel, Yangshuo – Once a quiet market town, Yangshuo has mushroomed into a bustling tourist center. The Bailelai Paradise Resort Hotel has expanded with it, introducing four star bedrooms in 1999. These are clean and spacious (300 square feet). However, the major selling point of this hotel is in having the option to accommodate guests in the midst of this area's scenic countryside rather than in the more stressful, urban environment of Guilin city. |
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Beijing April 20 -23: Beijing's International Tourism and Travel Market at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center creates a forum for businesses keen to tap into the opportunities of China's outbound travel market. Click here for details. May 3 – May 7: Yang Li Ping, one of China's best known contemporary dancers, performs his own works at the Poly Theater. Price: RMB280, 380, 580, 780, 980. May 7 – 8: La Bayadere, a ballet performed by the Royal Ballet Van Flanders of Belgium at the Tianqiao Theater. Price: RMB120, 280, 380, 580, 680, 880. May 15: Patricia Kaas performs a solo concert at The Great Hall Of The People by Tiananmen Square. Price: RMB280, 480, 680, 1280, 1880. June 18: Britcham Ascot in Beijing combines the sartorial grace of Britain's Royal Ascot horse race with the competitiveness of Hong Kong Jockey Club's racers at Beijing Jockey Club's race track. Price: RMB 980 Shanghai April 15: The Byron Berline Band 2005 Shanghai Concert, starring three time US national fiddle champion, Byrone Berline at the Shanghai Center Theater. Price: RMB 60, 120, 180, 240. April 26- 27: Latin Jazz Queen, Laura Fygi's Shanghai Nights at Shanghai's Concert Hall. Price: RMB 180, 280, 380, 520, 680, 1280. April 27: Ballet, Romeo and Juliet, a ballet by Ballet Prelojocaj, France at Shanghai Majestic Theater. Price: RMB 80, 180, 280, 380, 500. May 4 – 9: The Stolen Show, a series of contemporary dances performed by Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal at the Shanghai Center Theater. Price: RMB 100, 180, 280, 380, 480. May 5 – 7: Opera, La Vie Parisienne, an opera by Opera Comique Theatre Musical Populaire at the Lyric Theater of the Shanghai Grand Theater. Price: RMB 100, 200, 380, 500, 680, 880. |
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China's contemporary art scene has been hot for some time now with major collections in Hong Kong and Basel receiving world plaudits. As a result, international dealers are snapping up works as they appear at top galleries in Beijing and Shanghai. Recently, we conducted an interview with one of China's most successful artists, Zheng Zai Dong, at his Shanghai studio (Translated from Chinese). Imperial Tours (IT): Your recent series depicts various landscapes. Which mountain ranges do you paint and why? Zheng Zai Dong (ZZD): Chinese landscape painting asks an artist to add an element of his individuality to the depiction of a landscape. For this reason, since ancient times Chinese artists have favored less celebrated mountain ranges. For example, I would not paint a landscape of Huangshan (Yellow Mountains) because each view is so celebrated in its own right that it would be impossible for me to paint my own interpretation. Usually, you find that famous ancient artists have chosen to paint unprepossessing landscapes in order to give themselves the freedom to express their own vision. IT: You have painted this stunning series of West Lake paintings. (Click here to view these.) Why have you never painted the scenery around Guilin? ZZD: Guilin was considered a barbarian area until the Ming dynasty. Prior to that time, Chinese artists did not consider painting it. It was only in the Ming dynasty that Chinese painters began to depict it. And so although I have done a series of small sketches, I have never been inspired to give it the same attention as Hangzhou's West Lake. IT: Many of your paintings refer to Buddhist themes and stories? Are you a Buddhist? ZZD: I am not a Buddhist. I use famous Buddhist themes and stories in my paintings, but it is usually to play with them or to satirize them. IT: Tibet has some stunning scenery. It is also a fashionable destination for Chinese artists. Why have you not painted any Tibetan subjects? ZZD: Chinese and Tibetan painting styles are very different. I have traveled to Tibet and find it very beautiful, but it hasn't inspired me to paint it. IT: Where would you like your next trip to be? ZZD: Li Bai, the 8th century poet, is celebrated for the poems he wrote during his travels from the city of Nanjing south west into Anhui province. You can still follow the trail of his poems. No one else follows this route, so this would make the trip even better. |
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Discovery – Braille Without Borders Meeting Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg, founders of "Braille Without Borders", is an amazing voyage into fearlessness, resolve and compassion. Their no-nonsense approach to helping the blind people of Tibet has earned them the respect of the many organizations that originally said this could not be done. Sabriye, who became blind as a young adult, invented a Braille script for the Tibetan language as part of her studies at Bonn University, Germany. When she arrived in Tibet a few years later, she was as surprised by the high incidence of blindness as by how poorly-equipped local institutions were to deal with this enduring problem. For example, Sabriye tells a story of visiting a family's home to find their blind daughter tied to a bed! Sabriye and Paul were determined to help, and the local government recognizing the woeful plight of Tibetan blind people swiftly welcomed their brave efforts to establish educational and rehabilitation programs. "Braille Without Borders" is characterized by pragmatism. For example, by working with a Tibetan scholar, Sabriye further developed her syllable-based Braille script for Tibet's community of the blind. As soon as Paul transferred this into a software program, Sabriye implemented it at the Preparatory School for the Blind that they have set up in Lhasa. Apart from teaching Tibetan blind children and adults vocational skills (from handicrafts to music to agriculture to information technology) that will increase their status within their local communities, the educational programs they have created at their school and farm instill vital confidence and hope in young people who would otherwise find themselves in a forbidding situation. That Sabriye has achieved so much that various countries' aid agencies are asking for her assistance is inspirational for her young students. Similarly, Paul's compassion and engineering skills have helped implement a dream dedicated to marvelously revolutionizing the lives of so many blind persons. To find out more about Braille Without Borders, please visit their web site by clicking here. To listen to an interview of Sabriye on NPR, please click here. During our visits to Lhasa, Imperial Tours takes guests to visit the Preparatory School for the Blind and to meet Sabriye and Paul, when their schedules permit. (Please note that whenever Imperial Tours visits a charity, we make a donation on behalf of our clients so that guests do not feel as though they are being asked for money.) If you would like to make a financial contribution to Braille Without Borders, you will find banking information on their website. |
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We hope you enjoyed this newsletter. As always, please do write back with any feedback that you would like us to incorporate. Alternatively, please call Margot Kong, our Director of Sales and Marketing, in San Francisco, at 888 888 1970. With Best Regards, To forward this newsletter to a friend, please click here. |
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by Jacob Ulevich
Businesswoman Nancy Kim lends her time, talent and energy to benefit Special Olympics China
Nancy Kim, owner of Imperial Tours is a relative newcomer to the world of Special Olympics. Her involvement with the movement began during the summer of 2002 when she volunteered to serve as the Chair of the Special Olympics East Asia Benefit Committee. Her work on A Very Special Christmas: Celebrate the Spirit, a holiday gala benefitting Special Olympics China National Sports Development Seminars, led to an outpouring of support and donations as well as a substantial increase in public awarenesss of Special Olympics China among the foreign business and expatriate communities.
Kim, a longtime resident of Beijing, was able to utilize her network of friends and business acquaintances to galvanize volunteers, donations and sponsorships for this first annual Christmas fundraiseer. Her experience, while not the traditional one involving athlete training and competition, was nevertheless eye-opening and rewarding. Of the event, she said, "Having spent quite a lot of time in the Far East, I know that having a child with mental disabilities is often looked upon with shame. I am confident that with Special Olympics' effort here it will help to eliminate this stigma… It was great to see so many people helping [at the event] not for any personal gain, but merely because they wanted to help in any way they could."
The black-tie event was held at the historic China Club and included dinner, dancing and speeches by Special Olympics athletes, as well as live and silent auctions which attracted generous donations such as roundtrip airline tickets; a Disneyland Tokyo package; health club memberships; jewelry; and a tennis racquet autographed by the world's number one tennis player, Lleyton Hewitt. The event, attended by 150 people raised more than US$20,000 through ticket and raffle sales as well as the auctions.
While Kim seems to be a natural at putting these types of events together, she continues to be moved by the cause of helping people with mental disabilities in China. When working on the benefit, Kim was introduced to Jia Sirui, a Special Olympics athlete and former International Global Messenger from China. "Jia Sirui inspires all of us to work harder and to appreciate everything that we have been given," she said.
Kim is committed to Special Olympics and is already working hard on two more special events to take place, this time, in Shanghai – host of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
James Ulevich is the Information Techonology and Communications Specialist for Special Olympics East Asia
Published in Spirit; The Magazine Of Special Olympics, Quarter 2 2003
Finding commonality at Beijing's West Qing Tombs
by Guy Rubin
What is it that you, me and the last Qing dynasty Emperor, Puyi, could all have in common? Absolute power at the age of two? Two wives for our sixteenth birthday? A flawed come-back in our thirties? Or maybe it's that now we can all be buried together.
A commercial cemetery is the latest addition to the impressive Western Qing tombs. Having arranged for the relocation of Emperor Puyi's ashes to this newly opened cemetery, Hong Kong entrepreneur Zhang Shiyi is now selling burial lots in this fengshui-enhanced vicinity.
And not a bad idea it is too. For a visit to this beatific valley, adorned with more than seventy Imperial tombs, affords a rare pleasure. These Qing dynasty tombs echo and embolden their surrounding landscape. Austere courtyards mimic the graceful sweep of a wide, valley floor. While their raised "Soul Towers" lead your eyes upwards to the rugged mountains behind, their intricate, marble bridges invite you to glance down at their picturesque, moss-covered moats. The buildings' deference to their setting however, does not impugn their Imperial hauteur – for though they harmoniously blend in with their surroundings, their sheer size is spell-binding.
Unlike the Ming dynasty Emperors whose tombs are collected in one lush valley, the burial grounds of the Qing dynasty have been split between two main locations – the Eastern and Western Tombs. But why did the Qing dynasty require two separate burial sites?
The reason dates back to a Dostoevskian tale of love and hate; of physical crime and spiritual punishment. When the Emperor Kangxi (r 1662-1722) bequeathed his empire to a younger son, Yongzheng (r. 1723-1735) usurped his father's throne and, to stave off their potential challenge, executed all his brothers as well as his father's ministers. Subsequently ridden with guilt, this ambitious ruler couldn't bear the thought of being buried next to his father. By selecting a burial site diametrically opposite the established Imperial Tombs, on the western as opposed to the eastern side of Beijing, Yongzheng instituted the Western Qing Tombs.
After comparing both sites, you will be in little doubt that Emperor Yongzheng was as frenziedly competitive in death as he had been in life. His tomb, the first at the Western Qing tombs, makes his father's at the Eastern look penny-pinching by comparison. For though Emperor Kangxi's tomb is expansive, his son's is built on an altogether more massive scale, reminiscent of the imposing majesty of the Forbidden City's southern courtyards. Its aesthetic merit lies as much in its appealing form as it does in embodying the unquestioning authority of its all-powerful occupant. Ironic then that so great an achievement should be inspired by so petty an ambition.
This narrow-mindedness is counterbalanced by the largesse of the second Emperor to be buried at the Western Qing Tombs, Emperor Jiaqing (r.1796-1820). Unwilling to surpass and thereby call into question the glory of his ancestor, Emperor Jiaqing thought it politic only to equal him. Except that he took his idea to an unnecessary extreme.
His tomb, Changling, relinquishing all individuality, is to every degree an exact copy of that of Emperor Yongzheng. So much so that when we arrived there, our navigator bet another friend 100 dollars that we'd taken the wrong turn and had, in error, returned to Yongzheng's tomb. It was an easy mistake to make. For the design of the bridges, the positioning of the well-preserved outhouses, even the brown mule and the souvenir stalls in front of the ticket office looked precisely the same – as if an age-old hoax were being intentionally perpetuated to the present day. Our bewilderment only intensified as, strolling though the tomb, we confirmed its similarity to the tiniest detail.
Jiaqing's Empress, fortunately, had no such pretensions to modesty. Her immaculate tomb next door, at Changxiling (Western Changling), sports the only Echo Wall I have ever had the joyful opportunity of testing. Indeed, as promised by Chinese guides at Beijing's ever crowded Temple of Heaven, if a message is whispered on one side of the circular wall, this will be perfectly audible to someone standing on the other. And by altering your position within the centre of the circular wall, you can adjust the number of echoes returned to you. Great fun when it works.
Having spent two days exploring its curiosities, we were thoroughly charmed by this 800 km² Qing dynasty burial site. So pleasant is its setting and so magisterial its tombs that we could deeply sympathize with Emperor Puyi's last words, whispered to his wife, Li Shuxian, as he lay dying of cancer in 1967. "Please, please bury my ashes at the side of my adoptive father," he pleaded. It is wonderful that, after so sad a life, his last wish came true.
As it could for you on down payment of $40,000.
Getting there
The most direct route to the Western Qing Tombs is to drive south west along the "Jingshi" highway, which links Beijing to Shijiazhuang. After about 80km, on arrival at Gaobeidian, head west for Yixian. The tombs are 16km west of Yixian on highway 112. Expect the journey from central Beijing to take over 3 hours.
original publication May 2000, Chinanow.com
by Peter Neville-Hadley, Editor-in-Chief
Send those friends and relations off on an unusual summer tour
Despite repeated predictions that in a very short period China will overtake France as the number one travel market in the world, the opening up of China's travel industry to the creation of Sino-foreign joint-ventures last year has been met with little enthusiasm, not least because it has yet to be deregulated sufficiently to guarantee a reasonable return.
Hopes that the improvement in service brought about by more domestic competition would now be accelerated have been dashed. But more choice is nevertheless on the way for foreign visitors to China, represented by a growth in small foreign companies operated not by those who see China as just another market, but those who use their own love of the country to create imaginative and reliably comfortable tours.
If you want to relieve yourself of the need to entertain visiting firends and relations for the whole of their sojourns this summer, a recently formed American company can take them off your hands. It offers five-star, tailor-made special interest and small group tours, which are constantly monitored to make sure the fifth star never takes a day off.
Pleasing the customer
Imperial Tours is the creation of a Briton and a Korean-American who met while students at Beijing Language and Culture University. Guy Rubin gave up a career in the arcane world of strategy consulting to come to China to write a novel, and ended up starting the US-registered Imperial Tours with Nancy Kim.
The company has been operational for about 18 months. Bespoke tours are created to suit interests in everything form botany to Chinese furniture, but even the regular 15 day small goup tours which tackle some of China's greatest hits – Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Hangzhou and Shanghai – include unusual elements such as picnics at the less-visited of the Ming Tombs or dinner al fresco on the shores of Beijing's Qian Hai.
"We've personally eaten our way through most of the menus of the restaurants, and we personally interview all the guides. We also escort all major tours ourselves," says Rubin. From Xi'an to Suzhou this avoids problems of the "Oh, we're really full – you're in the old wing this time" variety.
"The biggest problem is service – the idea of pleasing the customer. Here, the main idea is often getting away with the least expense that seems to matter," says Kim. Having made exact selections for hotels, restaurants and other services, the company books what it can itself, and the remainder as the law requires, through a Chinese agent. But the personal touches – an album of photos from the trip, a hotpot to act as a memento of an open-air banquet – and the attention to details all too often absent from tour arrangments in China, make all the difference.
July 22-July 5, 2000 CITY WEEKEND
