The Peace Hotel: A NonFiction Novel
Shanghai in the 1920s was undergoing massive amounts of change. With a flourishing opium trade, communism gaining a foothold and the turmoil between the foreigners, Chinese and gangsters overrunning the city, few would have considered it an appropriate time to build a landmark hotel.In The Peace Hotel: A Non-Fiction Novel, author Chen Danyan traces the history of this iconic Shanghai luxury hotel. Built by Victor Sassoon, a Jewish business tycoon whose inherited wealth came from the opium trade, the Peace Hotel came to life on a prime waterfront lot in Shanghai in 1929. Originally called the Cathay, it was the toast of Asia until WWII and the Japanese Occupation. Chen Danyan's remarkable account of the Peace Hotel covers seven tumultuous decades as this grand building, the most luxurious hotel on the Bund, witnessed the changing fortunes of families and business dynasties.From the nearly overnight loss of riches of the "indigenous capitalists" in the 1950s to the post-revolutionary
Absolutely stunning and flawless. Promoted to one of my all-time favorite books. I've no clue how the author wrote this, but it is absolutely incredible.