Fragrant Hill Hotel (香山饭店)

A first hotel opened on this site in 1957. After the Tangshan earthquake of July 1976, its badly damaged buildings were judged dangerous; in 1979 it was decided to demolish them and build a luxury garden-style hotel in their place. The Chinese government had first offered Pei a high-rise in central Beijing, which he turned down. In October 1979, with the approval of the State Council, Beijing's planning and construction commissions engaged him to lead the design, assisted by the Beijing Architectural Design Institute and the Beijing Garden Design Institute. Within his firm, he led the project with C. C. Pei.

The old buildings were demolished and work began in 1980. Construction was completed on 20 September 1982, for 36,572 m² of floor area and a total investment of 62.6 million yuan. The hotel opened on a trial basis on 17 October 1982, with Pei and more than 300 Chinese and foreign guests present, and officially on 1 April 1983. It was Pei's first work in mainland China; he said it was one of the hardest projects he had known.

As early as December 1982, at a round table held by the editors of the Architectural Journal, the review of the Architectural Society of China, experts praised the design, but some faulted the hotel for taking over the site of an old garden, for its cost and for polluting the park. In 1984 the American Institute of Architects gave it its National Honor Award.

Pei held that one could not build a tall building at Xiangshan: the hotel had to blend with the gardens, and courtyards seemed the safer approach. It therefore stretches horizontally, in volumes of varying height, so as not to compete in height with the hill. From the central hall, wings of guest rooms extend out to the perimeter wall and divide the site into eleven courtyards of different sizes and styles, linked by winding galleries. Walls are white and roofs grey; round, square and diamond motifs recur throughout. Pei gave up the large classical roof for a roof that imitates grey tile.

A central axis runs from the entrance through the building; at its heart is the "four seasons courtyard", a glass-roofed atrium that recalls a siheyuan courtyard as much as an enlarged Suzhou-garden light well.

The gardens were designed by Beijing's garden planning office, in collaboration with Pei. The eleven courtyards hold eighteen garden scenes. The main courtyard opens onto a pond of more than 1,400 m²; on its bank, a "general's rock", which Pei picked out in the Stone Forest of Yunnan and had brought to the site, stands 2.65 m high and weighs 16.5 tonnes.

Rated four-star in 1991, the hotel now mainly hosts business meetings, training courses and leisure stays.

The hotel stands in Xiangshan Park, west of Beijing. People come to stay; in autumn it also welcomes day visitors for its courtyard, meals and afternoon tea.