Red Capital Residence, Pekin

An American resident in Beijing has restored one of the city's beautiful but rapidly disappearing traditional courtyard homes and transformed it into a fashionable boutique hotel. Unique pieces from early Chinese Communist era fill the interiors. After 1949, the Chinese courtyard became a realm of privilege, exclusive to Beijing¡'s powerful elite. Many of China¡'s leaders selected courtyard homes as their private residence. Red Capital Residence seeks to preserve the elegance and exclusivity of traditional courtyard living.

Red Capital Residence, located in a courtyard home in Beijing¡'s Dongsi preserved heritage district, was witness to a history of intrigue during the Qing Dynasty and Republican era. One year of dedicated restoration by Beijing¡'s finest traditional craftsmen was required to preserve antiquity and revive the spirit of this historic home.

Dedicated to China's burgeoning 'red capitalists' the Red Capital Club is hidden in an ancient hutong alleyway located at Dongsi Jiutiao near the courtyard homes of many of China's past and present leaders. You will only be certain that you have arrived at the restaurant upon seeing a vintage Red Flag limo once reserved exclusively for China's top communist leaders parked outside the courtyard house.

The immaculately restored compound captures the mood of the 1950s when China was driven by idealism. The lounge cigar divan is like stepping into Mao's private meeting room. The furnishings are original used by the central government in the 1950s. Two chairs were actually used by Marshal Lin Biao (Mao's fated successor who lost out in an attempted coup). A poem of Mao's adorns one wall and a photograph of Deng, taken by his daughter and presented to the club another.

Red Capital Club dishes up 'Zhongnanhai Cuisine' which is the name of the secretive compound of China's top leadership. Each meal is a state banquet in style adorned with figures delicately carved from vegetables, presenting favorites of Mao, Deng, and even Zhu Rongji together with some of the best in imperial dining reserved for emperors and empresses. An evening at Red Capital Club is to step back in time, to wrap yourself in the dream of the 1950s, sink into the velvet and imagine that you have the Chairman's ear. Who knows, maybe he is listening.