Beijing Boutique Hotel: The Emperor

The Emperor Hotel is one of the few boutique hotels located right in the heart of Old Beijing. It is located close to the Eastern walls of the Forbidden City. Therefore, from the roof top of the hotel, from the gym & spa and the Yin Bar, you have fantastic views! Wangfujing Road, the pedestrian international shopping street with some other luxe hotels and Tiananmen Square are in walking distance.


Stylish rooms combining traditional culture and modern fashion. Complimentary 24h butler service for all rooms, flatscreen TV, Wireless Internet access, free minibar (?!) ...


The Emperor Suite - located on the South West corner of the hotel offers an exclusive private view on the Forbidden City - about 3999,00 CNY.


The gym & spa on the roof top with views over old Beijing, outdoor wading pool, hot tub and massage rooms.


The Yin Bar with views over the Forbidden City - you can rent the place for special occasion! - the photo was taken in June 2008, when we thought about hosting our farwell party here.


While looking up The Emperor on the www for actual pictures, I found often these two wrong information:
1) The Emperor Hotel is not the first Design Hotel in Beijing. It only opened in summer 2008, long after the Hotel Kapok which is another hipp boutique hotel in the neighbourhood of Old Beijing.
2) The Emperor Hotel is not located inside the Forbidden City


The Emperor
ADDRESS:
33 Qihelou Street
Dongcheng District
100006 Beijing, PR CHINA

ACCOMMODATION:
55 rooms including 9 suites

PRICE RANGE:
about 75 Euro (Superior Room) to 400 Euro (Emperor Suite)

ARCHITECTURE / INTERIOR DESIGN:
Graft Label


*
You might also like my post about Hip Hotels in China
*

Obscenely cheap LH airfare from China to Europe

Only on Wednesday and Thursday, June 17 and 18, you can book special online fares with Lufthansa from China to selected 8 destinations in Europe for as low as CNY2,880*.
*Excluding taxes and surcharges.

Isn't this unfair to the people in Europe who want to travel to China and have to pay double of that price with the same airline?

I am not willing to travel with any other airline, I suffer from fear of flying.
Have you read about my experience with Air China?

On the Street ... in Dashanzi, Beijing

Visiting Dashanzi art district with a broken leg ... photo by Beijing Notebook 2007

Urban Carpets by Instant Hutong

urban carpets - 8 pieces 180x180 cm - embroidery on canvas

This serie of 8 carpets by Instant Hutong are representing different maps of hutong areas in Beijing with a size of approximately one square kilometre and a population of 30000. Each of them has been isolated and presented as autonomous town within the big city. They are embroidered by hand with the same technique of the propaganda slogans on large fabrics used by the communist party during the seventies. The carpets have been filled with white wire wool insertions.



All along year 2009 the urban carpets will be shown to the Hutong dwellers inside the courtyards and on the public lanes in order to share the project with people and bring it back to the city districts it was inspired from.





The people behind Instant Hutong are the Italian artists Marcella Campa and Stefano Avesani. They are focusing on the urban growth of Chinese cities and their transformation since 2003. In June 2005 they won the international Archiprix prize in Glasgow with a project for the Hutongs in Beijing. In October 2005 they moved to China and started working on the Instant Hutong art project and on a parallel research on contemporary Chinese urban habitat. After studying and working in China and Europe, they established their own architectural practice in Beijing.

(photos and text by Instant Hutong and their portfolio on Behance Network)

On the Street....at 798, Beijing

A big scary bag in Dashanzi (photo 2007).