Back in the 1980s, talk about the
2022-04-29
The White Swan Hotel is located in the white goose pond in Shamian, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. It was invested and built by Mr. Huo Yingdong and the people's Government of Guangdong Province. It was jointly designed by the famous Chinese architectural design masters she Jianan and Mo Bozhi. The hotel opened in 1983. It is the first five-star hotel in China with Chinese and foreign cooperation. There are countless White Swan hotels. In 1985, he became the first member of the world-class hotel organization in China; In 1990, it became one of the first three five-star hotels in China; In 1996, it ranked first among the top 100 excellent and 50 best hotels in China. For many years, it has been rated as the first choice for international businessmen to come to Guangzhou by international travel guides and other international well-known media. In 2010, Guangzhou white swan hotel was recognized as a cultural relic in the third national cultural relics survey of Guangdong Province. White Swan Hotel, the first five-star hotel in mainland China, the first joint venture five-star hotel in mainland China, and the first five-star hotel designed, constructed and operated by Chinese people. The history of Weishui, which people like to talk about, must start with reform and opening up. At the invitation of Liao Chengzhi, who was in charge of overseas Chinese Affairs under the State Council at that time, Huo Yingdong and others went to Beijing to discuss and formulate a plan: to build eight Sino foreign joint venture hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing. As the forefront of reform and opening up, Guangzhou needs to build a five-star hotel up to the international level. This task falls on Huo Yingdong, a patriotic businessman from Panyu. After many visits to Guangzhou, Huo Yingdong finally chose Shamian Island, an "urban oasis" in Guangzhou. Luo Zhaoxiang, who started working in the Shamian Street office in 1974, can still remember the preparations for the construction of the White Swan Hotel. "When Mr. FOK Yingdong built the White Swan, he promised not to damage the environment of Shamian island and occupy the land of Shamian island". FOK Yingdong, who has reclamation experience in Hong Kong, began to build land in the river cofferdam outside Shamian island and plans to build the hotel on the river. Luo Zhaoxiang said that this was an "initiative" in China at that time. Similar to the pragmatic character of Cantonese, the design of white swan is both economical and luxurious. One of the main tasks of building white swan in that year was to serve the growing foreign merchants of the Canton Fair. "There was a great demand for guest rooms. White Swan, China Hotel and garden hotel were built according to the goal of 1000 rooms." Zhang Tian, chief operating officer of White Swan Hotel, recalled. However, when setting the height that year, the white swan was located in the waterway. In order not to damage the sand landscape, the hotel building height should be limited to less than 100 meters and the tower height should be controlled to about 99 meters. Cramming 28 floors and 1000 rooms into a building less than 100 meters high was a challenge for the design team of that year. Finally, the designers of white swan chose to control the floor height. Later, the height of the White Swan floor was set at 2.75 meters. With the ceiling, the height of the room was only about 2.6 meters and the room area was 26-28 square meters. "It is said that the design of the white swan is economical because it makes full use of the space to provide rooms and has good practicability." When the white swan was first built, China was still in the era of planned economy. Many building materials were not available at home. Huo Yingdong asked someone to buy them from abroad. "Equipment, building materials and furniture are almost all imported", Zhang Tian said. Even a piece of wood was transported from the Philippines. "All the decoration materials are 'hard Bang', and the cement and steel bars clatter," Luo Zhaoxiang said. In that year, the staff of Shamian sub district office participated in its safety inspection during the construction of white swan. According to Zhang Tian, the architectural design of white swan was undertaken by the Chinese, but Huo Yingdong insisted on inviting foreign designers from the famous HbA hotel design company in the United States to do the interior design, so the interior design of white swan was the most international standard in the mainland at that time. The closure and transformation of white swan in 2015 once again cooperated with HbA and invited American Japanese designers to complete it. Zhang Tian said that it was precisely because of the high standard of white swan that its advanced level and luxury caused a sensation in China after the operation of the hotel, and the hotel industry all over the country came to investigate. The investment of Guangdong Guojian and Swan Tourism Bureau is HK $12.5 million, and the investment of Guangdong Guojian and swan is HK $4.5 million. In 1981, the white swan hotel also borrowed US $36.31 million from the Guangzhou Branch of the Bank of China. According to the exchange rate at that time, the construction investment of white swan hotel was nearly 180 million yuan. Huo Yingdong once said that he didn't worry about the hotel not making money, but with the title of the first five-star hotel, leaders from the state to local places have high hopes. The operation of white swan is only allowed to succeed and not allowed to fail. The White Swan began to make profits in the year when it was completed, and obtained a net profit of 12.82 million yuan in the summary calculation of that year. White swan is the seed sown by the state in the experimental field of reform and opening up. Later facts have also proved that the success of white swan hotel has driven a large number of foreign capital into Guangzhou. Subsequently, five-star hotels such as China Hotel and garden hotel opened, which made Guangzhou occupy three seats among the eight five-star hotels in China at that time. "At that time, the white swan was like a 'diversion bridge', which was a symbol of reform and opening up and investment attraction," said Yang Bo, an old employee of the white swan. Yang Bo, who is over 70 years old, joined the White Swan power department in 1982 and is the "old minister" preparing to build the hotel. What impressed him most was "Huo Sheng comes to pay dividends during the new year's festival". Since the opening of the hotel, Huo Sheng will personally come to white swan every Spring Festival and Mid Autumn Festival to express holiday wishes to each employee. White Swan has always maintained the tradition of giving preferential treatment to employees. According to the statistics of white swan, the hotel has received 150 heads of state and members of the royal family from more than 40 countries, as well as many stars in culture, art and sports, including Deng Xiaoping, the chief designer of reform and opening up, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain and Fidel of Cuba Castro, wait. Although the super hotel was originally built to receive foreign businessmen of the Canton Fair, in fact, the four doors of the White Swan are wide open. Whether business elites in suits or small people worried about oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, whether they are hotel guests or not, they can visit the hotel, play and "sigh morning tea". According to public information, although the managers of the White Swan had repeatedly put forward opinions on the losses caused by the opening of the four doors, Huo Yingdong still insisted, "at that time, I had only one belief, that is, to open the eyes of the people, know the wisdom and new creation of the Chinese people, and enhance the Chinese people's confidence in their own and the country's future. From an economic point of view, it is also good to be open, popular first, and then rich." White Swan Hotel has witnessed the changes of China's reform and opening up, the development of the hotel market, the changes of tourist sources and consumption habits. Pragmatic Guangzhou people have also witnessed the long flow of water in their hometown in the fixed life mode of "one cup and two pieces". In 2010, Guangdong province carried out the third national cultural relics survey. In addition to some valuable sites and buildings being identified as cultural relics, Guangzhou White Swan Hotel, China's first five-star hotel, was also identified as cultural relics. In September 2016, white swan hotel was selected into the list of "the first batch of China's 20th century architectural heritage". (Xinhua News Agency)
Edit：Li Ling Responsible editor：Chen Jie
Source：Southern Metropolis Daily,CNS
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