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Wee Kek Koon

Just when I thought I had exhausted my appetite for buffets, a Sunday brunch at a French restaurant in Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur proved a delightful corrective. There was free-flowing sparkling wine, a generous spread and a parade of desserts that made restraint all but impossible.
I am told that another restaurant in the same hotel offers a Saturday “Straits of Malaya” buffet showcasing Malay cuisine. The prospect is enticing, though it will have to wait a few weekends. At my age, one must eat responsibly.
Between multiple courses that Sunday, I took a stroll – which is good for digestion, as one likes to think – through the relatively new hotel.
The Petronas Twin Towers, a mere 10-minute walk away, loomed impressively through the windows. The interiors of the hotel looked quite comfortable and luxurious. It smelled nice too – probably a signature scent concocted especially for the premises, de rigueur nowadays for any shopping centre and hotel worth its salt.
Such carefully orchestrated hospitality may feel modern, yet long before the rise of contemporary hotels, China developed a remarkably diverse world of private inns shaped by commerce and sustained by the enduring need for shelter along the road.
As early as the Shang period (c.1600BC-1046BC), itinerant merchants were travelling widely, creating demand for lodging. By the Warring States period (475BC-221BC), inns had proliferated to the point of attracting official scrutiny.
Reformers such as Shang Yang (c.390BC-338BC), the chancellor of the state of Qin, were wary of commerce’s disruptive effects on agriculture and attempted to abolish them, albeit unsuccessfully. Such persistence reflected their indispensability in an increasingly mobile and commercial society.

By the Qin (221BC-207BC) and Han (202BC-AD220) dynasties, private lodging had diversified considerably. Urban hostels catered to wealthier guests, the more modest roadside inns served merchants and scholars, while rural “guest huts” offered only the most basic shelter.
Despite these differences, such establishments thrived to the extent that even officials began to favour them over the empire’s extensive network of government-run postal relay stations, where they were entitled to free board and lodging while on official business.
Over the next four centuries, private inns expanded in both scale and function. They became not merely places of rest but lively centres of exchange. They sold daily necessities, facilitating trade and, at times, operating as informal marketplaces.
The line between lodging and commerce blurred. Amenities, too, grew more sophisticated: winter heating, clean water, prepared food and stabling for animals were often available.
From the Tang (618-907) to the Song (960-1279) dynasties, the inn trade flourished alongside economic growth and increasingly sophisticated transport networks.
Larger establishments incorporated restaurants, storage facilities and even rudimentary financial services, such as dispensing money to bearers of promissory notes from another location. Smaller inns ranged from single-room operations to bustling hostels in major cities.

Religious institutions also played a part. Buddhist temples, with their expansive compounds, offered accommodation to travellers, especially the upper classes, who prized their tranquillity over the bustle of commercial inns.
By the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) periods, another form of lodging had emerged: the huiguan, or native-place guild hall. Funded by merchants from the same region, these establishments provided not only food and lodging but also social networks, business meeting spaces and entertainment for guests from the same districts, prefectures or provinces.
Some grew into sprawling compounds with gardens and courtyards, reflecting both prosperity and a deep-seated desire for communal belonging far from home.
Across the millennia, one ideal has endured: binzhi rugui, which means that every guest should feel as though they have come home. Whether in a humble roadside hut or an elaborate guild hall, a no-frills backpackers’ hostel or a five-star hotel, the principle remains the same.


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The history of China’s hospitality industry and how its inns evolved over time

WUZHEN, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA - 2014/11/05: A small inn is renovated from an ancient civil house.  Located in the centre of the six ancient towns south of Yangtze River, Wuzhen displays its two-thousand-year history in its ancient stone bridges floating on mild water, its stone pathways between the mottled walls and its delicate wood carvings. It gives a unique cultural experience for tourists. (Photo by Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images)

A Chinese guest house in Pingyao Ancient City in China’s Shanxi province. The country’s hospitality industry was sophisticated even centuries ago, with private inns that catered to the changing needs of travellers as the economy and transport networks grew. Photo: Getty Images

An small inn renovated from an ancient house in China’s Zhejiang province. Photo: LightRocket via Getty Images

Part of a Chinese scroll from the Song period (960-1279) shows a festival taking place. Centuries ago, private inns would have catered to those visiting such events from far away. Photo: Universal Images Group/Getty Images

What an ancient Chinese dish can teach people about the ‘proper’ way to eat dishes

Cherry Biluo. Photo: Sohu

Cherry biluo. Biluo was introduced to China by Central Asian traders during the Tang dynasty and evolved from a heavy wheat-based dish into something sweeter to suit local tastes. Photo: Instagram/resilkroad

Malaysians typically eat wonton noodles in dark soy sauce, unlike how they are served in Singapore and other parts of Asia. Photo: Getty Images

Carrot and meat pilaf. This traditional Persian dish is believed to have lent its name to the Chinese biluo. Photo: Shutterstock

Cherry biluo emerged as the Central Asian dish was reworked in China to suit a wider range of preferences. Photo: Sohu

How cremation became widespread in ancient China despite going against Confucian beliefs

Despite burial being the preferred way of final disposition in Chinese tradition, cremation was widespread during China’s Song dynasty, as many families couldn’t afford to bury their dead. Photo: Shutterstock

These days, most people in Hong Kong are cremated, but the practice was regarded as a form of humiliation or punishment in ancient China. Photo: Shutterstock

Grave sweepers at a Hong Kong cemetery during the Chung Yeung Festival, in which people honour their ancestors. Photo: Dickson Lee

History of Chinese flatbreads reflects how food has echoes of faraway places

Today, the descendants of “hubing” Chinese flatbreads survive in everyday foods like “shaobing” (pictured), the ubiquitous flatbread sold at neighbourhood food stalls, and “nang”, the naan-like Xinjiang flatbreads still baked by pressing the dough against the walls of clay ovens. Photo: Shutterstock

A mural shows Zhang Qian leaving for his expedition to Central Asia. Photo: Wikipedia

Nang flatbreads cook in a traditional clay oven. Photo: Shutterstock

How the Hakka spread in China and beyond, their cuisine reflecting hard lives

Hakka women dressed in traditional costumes hold trays of Hakka foods during the opening ceremony of the Hakkien Food Carnival at Tai Po Lam Tsuen, Hong Kong, in July 2013. Photo: SCMP

A Hakka restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.

Salted baked chicken is a traditional Hakka dish. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle

Chinese culture

Food & Drink

Private inns served travelling merchants in ancient China and grew in number and sophistication as the economy and infrastructure expanded


Private inns served travelling merchants in ancient China and grew in number and sophistication as the economy and infrastructure expanded.


Chinese history

China

Luxury Hotels

History

Tourism

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Reflections

The history of China’s hospitality industry and how its inns evolved over time

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Private inns served travelling merchants in ancient China and grew in number and sophistication as the economy and infrastructure expanded

Private inns served travelling merchants in ancient China and grew in number and sophistication as the economy and infrastructure expanded