The highway from Beijing Capital International Airport to Yanqi Lake feels a portal between worlds, leaving behind one of the most populated, influential, and polluted cities in the world and entering an oasis where the air is cleaner and bluer than it is in the animated film “Up.”
Beijing embodies the fast-paced lifestyle of a China rushing into an industrialized, towering future. Yanqi Lake symbolizes the calm beyond Beijing’s chaos; it is the yin to Beijing’s yang.
The glittering new star of Yanqui Lake is the Sunrise Kempinski Hotel. Owned by the government and managed by Kempinski, it already has been nominated for a multitude of architectural awards. It is designed to resemble three symbols in Chinese culture: the rising sun, a scallop (a symbol for prosperity) and the open mouth of a fish (representing a coming fortune).
The hotel’s unique circular design offers guests a full 360 degrees of views to decide on when booking. Viewing the sunrise over the lake or watching it set beyond the mountains is a matter of preference without a wrong answer.
A ballroom filled with Swarovski lights holds 1,000 guests for formal events. Nine bars and restaurants, including a Paulaner Brauhaus that eschews the typical dark, cavernous feel for a brighter, more appealing setting; and Elements, an international dining hall with an extensive selection of food and seating choices (no two sections of furniture are the same), make sure guests are as comfortable outside rooms as they are within. The most notable factor remains its exterior appearance. Sunrise may be as much a livable work of art as it is an ingenious, beautifully designed hotel.
The sum of all of these parts is considerable. Between the intimate privacy and indisputable visual appeal of the buildings and their surroundings, the world-class dining opportunities, and the convenience to see historical landmarks, Yanqi Island represents some of the very best of what China has to offer.
