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When they introduced market reforms that would shake the world, China's rulers celebrated a tiny privately owned Beijing hotel that survived decades of state planning as an example to the nation. The hotel reportedly endured as Beijing's only private business even during the worst excesses of Mao Zedong's rule, when capitalists were often vilified, but was torn down in late December to make way for a government-backed modernisation project. "Until we were demolished, the government always protected us," said Qiao Shuzhi, 63, the son of the inn's founder, who supported China's Communist Party when it was still an underground movement. His father Qiao Tianmin was granted a "Special Business Operation Licence" in 1953 by Beijing's chief of police, seemingly as a reward for his service to the communists as China fought against Japan.
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