I have been to and written about many hotels around the world. Today I will write about a good hotel in my hometown of Fujian. As the most popular tourist city in Fujian, Xiamen has opened many good hotels in recent years. Among them, the one I care most about is Qishang Hotel, whose owner is Septwolves, a clothing company that Fujian people are proud of.
City vacation feeling
Xiamen is a resort city, but there are not many hotels with a real "resort feel". The two days I stayed at Qishang were weekends, and I made an early reservation for the hotel’s free trial session of Sound Yoga at 3 pm on Saturday. Although the flight landed at Gaoqi Airport at 2:30 pm, in the end I Still managed to catch up exactly.
The hotel is located in Wuyuan Bay on Xiamen Island, facing the yacht dock and only a 10-minute drive from the airport. Half an hour ago I was gliding on the track, and half an hour later I was in the classroom of the spa, listening to the sound of wave drums and enjoying the feeling of slowly calming down. This is a special vacation experience in itself.
Different from the previous Yoga courses, the teachers here did not teach me complicated yoga movements. Instead, they guided me to breathe well and calm myself. They also made me feel unparalleled relaxation through the vibration of the singing bowl.
Early the next morning, I signed up for the teacher's Tai Chi class again, and the class was moved from the indoor classroom to the outdoor swimming pool. It is also different from the Tai Chi classes I have participated in in the past. I don’t start doing twenty-four poses right away. The one-hour teaching starts with a series of warm-up movements in the first half, and the second half is about experiencing "standing relaxation".
After finishing morning classes for the first time in a long time, it’s time to have a hearty breakfast. The breakfast at Qishang is semi-buffet. I have ordered many things, but my favorite is the noodle paste, which is no less delicious than the time-honored restaurant on Zhongshan Road.
Back to the topic of "vacation feeling", in addition to the unexpected Yoga and Tai Chi classes, the design of the hotel also made me feel that it is very suitable for a city vacation.
Fashionable escape
The hotel as a whole is built around several landscaped courtyards, and an architectural design team, a garden design team, and a lighting design team have been assembled to build it. The number of materials used is even more astonishing: 47,000 flat rust stones, 270,000 stone pillars, 1.12 million clay bricks, 12.5 million landscape seedlings...the Qishang today.
The main tree in the drop-off area is a century-old lychee tree. Lychee is one of the most abundant fruits in southern Fujian and was regarded as a "royal" fruit in ancient times. The lychee tree is evergreen all year round, prosperous and has strong vitality. It can grow for more than a hundred years. It is homophonic with "profit" and has the beautiful meaning of health and longevity, good luck and longevity.
The seven wolf-carved pillars on one side are antique wood carvings based on pendant flowers. They are hand-carved from camphor wood by the disciples of Lu Sili, a famous master in Quanzhou. The heaven and earth hang down, gathering spiritual energy, and each wooden pillar is carved with a lifelike wolf totem.
Stepping into the hotel lobby, the integrated 30-meter-long bar is quite eye-catching and is also a popular photo-taking spot. The front section provides check-in and check-out services for guests, while the rear section opens a wine bar in the lobby.
It turns out that there is a height difference between the inner and outer sides of the long bar, which is to allow the guests to sit at a higher area and the employees to stand at a lower area to ensure that both parties can see each other at eye level and respect each other.
The book gallery and teahouse opposite the Chang Bar hide a lot of collision and ingenuity between traditional local culture and modern aesthetics. They use red bricks, a common building material in ancient houses in southern Fujian, and change the original bricks through manual firing. The shape of the body presents a modern and simple triangle shape, which is closely spliced, with a simple touch and a very rhythmic visual sense.
Among the 20 paintings in the lobby, "Twenty Variations" is a group of works with the theme of twenty characters' faces. It was created by Mr. Lu Fusheng, a master of Chinese art. Desolate and lonely, it has a hermit-like feeling.
Every evening, there is a sunset ceremony in the lobby. If you don’t have time to take a singing bowl healing class, you can also feel the relaxation and calmness brought by the vibration of the bowl here.
Returning to the guest room, you can still continue this leisurely experience. Each guest room in Qishang has a balcony looking out to Wuyuan Bay or the courtyard. I stayed in a one-bedroom garden view room, close to the water and close to the water. When I pushed the window out, there was a private terrace that seemed to have no "margins".
Thanks to Xiamen's subtropical climate, you don't feel cold even when sitting outside in winter. It can be regarded as a kind of southern vacation that is different from Sanya.
There are a large number of art works scattered in the hotel. If you can't fully explore them, you can open the book "Seven Shang" in the guest room and have a look. The tea bags used in the guest rooms are BasaoTea. Although this brand is rare among other hotel supplies, it is already the "Light of Fujian" that has gone global. I am very happy to see it again in Qishang.
Authentic Minnan flavor
As the only member of the Leading Hotels of the World in South China, Qishang Hotel naturally has its own unique features. I think the most important thing is the inheritance of southern Fujian culture.
When I sighed that it was easy to take pictures just walking around here, the concierge staff told me that rust stone is used extensively in the hotel's buildings and interiors, and they come from Shuitou Shijing Town, Nan'an, Quanzhou.
The exterior wall of the building adopts a new type of construction technology in wall decoration - the stone dry hanging method (also known as the air hanging method, which uses metal pendants to hang the facing stone directly on the wall or hang it on the steel frame. Forming a stone decorative curtain wall without grouting and pasting).
As a result, a total of about 270,000 stone columns were used in the exterior wall. The designer did not directly carve on the large pieces of stone, but used this method of splicing and dry-hanging the stone strips, which consumed a lot of material and labor costs, but it created a The hotel has a unique sense of lines. At the same time, the floors of public areas and guest rooms are made of large pieces of Ishii rust stone, with a total usage of 47,000 square meters.
Fujian is famous for its stone carvings and materials, and the red turtle cake in southern Fujian is one of the favorite sweets of most Fujian people and many overseas Chinese. It often appears when worshiping gods, celebrating birthdays, and celebrating festivals. Before entering the Chinese restaurant, you can see a glazed Wanshou wall and neat turtle cake molds, which were customized for the hotel by the Beijing Glass Factory, which produces royal supplies.
Qishang's Xia Zhong Restaurant vividly interprets the culture of southern Fujian. Of the 1.12 million red bricks used in the entire hotel, 880,000 red bricks are used in the Xia Zhong restaurant.
With the waterscape pool as the central axis, the private rooms of Xia Zhong Restaurant show a classic symmetrical layout. The hanging flowers and antique tables in each private room are carefully selected ancient pieces.
The restaurant focuses on creative Chinese dishes from Fujian, Cantonese, Sichuan and Huaiyang, and also serves a variety of seasonal dishes. When I went there, I caught up with the seasonal freshness of the third autumn, crab roe and croaker, which was extra delicious and very delicious! We also recommend the appetizer, silver-threaded scallion conch slices, which is refreshing and appetizing. Looking forward to coming back next time to try more dishes.
On New Year's Eve 2020, a friend asked me: I have stayed in many domestic hotels this year. What is your Top 3 list? I blurted out: Qishang. I am also looking forward to the future expansion and wonderful performance of the Septwolves Group in Fujian and the domestic hotel industry!
The Land of Fujian
Everyone is welcome to explore