Tourists were being warmly received at the Chinese Restaurant of Paradise Hill Hotel in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. (Photo taken on June 2, 1982 by Xinhua News Agency)
BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua)--As the first Sino-foreign joint venture in the tourism industry, Paradise Hill Hotel was established eight years prior to the promulgation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Sino-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures. It was the first to implement labor contract and floating wage system among other initiatives, which made it the doyen of China's hotel and the pride in the heart of locals.
Speaking of Paradise Hill Hotel, one mustn't forget its investor – businessman Wu Fu from Macao. One day in the late 1970s, Wu Fu accompanied a Portuguese bridge expert to conduct a survey on the construction of bridges at several ports from Zhuhai to Guangzhou. They decided to stay in Zhuhai for one night before leaving for Guangzhou. However, due to poor local accommodation conditions, they had to return to Macao for the night.Therefore, Wu made up his mind to build a hotel in Zhuhai to accommodate both Chinese and foreign tourists.
Soon he contacted the CPC Zhuhai Municipal Committee and the Zhuhai Municipal Government. It took less than one year to complete the whole process from the contract signing to official opening of Paradise Hill Hotel.
Management standard must keep up with modern facilities’ high level. Wu Fu followed international practices in the hotel industry by appointing a general manager under the board of directors. Paradise Hill Hotel became the first enterprise to implement labor contract system in China.
Meanwhile, Ye Dong, who has participated in the organization of the CPC Paradise Hill Hotel Committee and assumed the position of the party secretary for more than 10 years, recalls that when the Paradise Hill Hotel started operation, all the managers were from Hong Kong and Macao. “All the service personnel were strictly selected from candidates nationwide at a ratio of 1:10, ”comments him.
The advanced management system, mechanism and staff endowed the hotel with great confidence. According to Ye, Paradise Hill Hotel’s business boomed in 1980s. The price for a standard room there was 168 yuan while one-night stay was only 3 yuan at an ordinary guesthouse in China and a bottle of Moutai was priced only 8 yuan. The salary of working class then was less than 100 yuan a month.
Businessmen in Fujian and Guangdong have always believed in “success through hard struggle”.They shared a characteristic similar to the city of Zhuhai – to start from scratch! In only two months of pilot operation, the hotel achieved breakeven. In the first quarter of offical operation, it gained a net profit of more than HKD 700,000.
The success of Paradise Hill Hotel also grabbed the attention of famous businessmen from Hong Kong and Macao, such as Henry Fok and Ho Yin, who built the first batch of Sino-foreign contractual or equity hotels, such as Zhuhai Hotel, Gongbei Hotel and Zhuhai Holiday Resort Hotel.
Striking changes have taken place in the tourism and hospitality industry in Zhuhai. As a commercial hotel at the earliest stage of reform and opening-up,the name of Paradise Hill Hotel has been written into history. The hotel brought with guests beautiful memories of the times when Zhuhai led China’s openingup and internationalization. (Reporter: Mao Lili)
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