Park Hotel Shanghai has 70 years history. Originally built as an investment by four major banks it was the first skyscraper built by Chinese nationals and was the most modern Hotel in Asia during the 1930’s. In the early days the hotel had a racetrack in front and the Yellow River Road next to it was called Park Road, so the hotel was named The Park Hotel. The hotel was designed by Hungarian architect Laslo Vodac and built by the Taoyuji Construction Company. Because the building was so tall there was a saying about it, “If you tilted your head to look at the top of building your hat would fall off ”. In 1933 a young student Bei Jingmin passed the hotel and was so impressed he couldn’t wait to finish his study in Saint John University, he went on to America to study construction and became a famous international architect. The hotel was the meeting place for many famous people in its heyday. Madam Song Qinglin, Zhang Xueliang, and Chen Nade were regular patrons. In 1949, Mayor Chen Yi met the senior officials from the PLA. In 1959, Mr. Guo Moruo sat on the roof of the hotel and wrote two poems about it. A lot of famous people made poems, or wrote books, or drew pictures of it and all of these became the treasure of the hotel. In more modern times the renovated hotel has had the pleasure of entertaining The Royal Ballet from England, the Chinese National Football Team, and the journalist group for APEC 2001.