Peninsula Moments | The Peninsula Hotels

At The Peninsula Beijing our service has no boundaries. Guests sample a taste of the “wild side” of the Great Wall with a personal tour guide and a decadent picnic lunch – one of the many Peninsula Academy programmes for our most intrepid guests. The Peninsula Beijing is one of the few hotels that has held spectacular events on the Great Wall – since 1998, the hotel has hosted more than 50 events on different sections of the wall.

Within our Peninsula Moments film, our pageboy flies a kite hand-made by a master kite maker in Beijing. The kite – widely recognised as having originated in China – was chosen as a special emblem representing hope and freedom, and creates the perfect panorama with the elliptical titanium-and-glass National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Beijing skyline. Our Peninsula Academy offers a kite-making class as one of our programmes. Guests learn how to make kites and – accompanied by craftsmen and hotel staff – fly their kites in historical Tiananmen Square.

The scene at the Hou Hai area happened on one of Beijing’s most beautiful afternoons. Hou Hai is a popular place for both residents and tourists, thus it is always very crowded. More than 30 crew members were busy controlling the continuous stream of passersby in the myriad of hutongs surrounding the area. Many tourists asked if the crew was shooting a film and wanted to come closer to our luxurious Rolls-Royces in Peninsula green and our pageboys in their white uniforms. Following the tour of the hutongs and surrounding old streets, and shooting in the busy bar area, the pageboy that appears in the scene said he felt like a movie star that afternoon. The Peninsula Beijing offers tours of hutongs highlighting their historical relevance in Beijing through a customised Peninsula Academy programme.

The 798 Art Zone is the centre of Beijing’s contemporary art circle. When we shot at the 798 art district, The Peninsula Beijing pageboys had to carry an extremely large painting weighing 150 kg! The painting featured is a famous piece called “Chinese Auspicious · Straw Hat”, by Zhou Ying Chao and weighted 150kg, back and forth several times until we finally captured the perfect shot.

Huang Ting serves the best combination of exquisite Cantonese cuisine and provincial specialities. With décor reminiscent of a Chinese noble’s courtyard, Huang Ting is home to an impressive collection of antiques, most dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911). The walls are constructed with rescued bricks from hutongs several hundred years old and the huang hua li wooden chairs and tables are reproductions of traditional Ming designs (1368 – 1644). In our shot, we see a server working with dough for hot pot noodles whilst performing the popular flour dance. Accompanied by music, servers stretch and knead dough whilst dancing to finally make “ropes” of noodles for everyone’s enjoyment.