The predecessor and history of Shanghai Xingguo Hotel?

Xingguo Hotel was not used as a hotel from the beginning. What is unexpected is that the reason why Xingguo Hotel has achieved its unique status today is actually "benefiting" from the global economic crisis that broke out in the 1930s.

This economic crisis that started on Wall Street in the United States made Shanghai, the financial center of the Far East at that time, unable to survive alone.

According to historical data, in 1934 alone, 425 national capital enterprises in Shanghai closed down, and the ranks of unemployed people grew day by day. However, at the same time, the outbreak of the economic crisis also provided some far-sighted capitalists with opportunities to buy at low prices. This is a good opportunity for the land, and today’s Building No. 1 of Xingguo Hotel is also the product of this special era.

The person who built Xingguo No. 1 Building at that time was the "Taipan" of the British businessman Swire, whose status was similar to today's chief representative of a multinational company in China. In December 1866, the fifth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, the British William Swire and R.S. Butterfield founded Butterfield Swire Co. in Shanghai. Its Chinese name was translated as Taikoo Yangxing.

Swire Pacific had a close relationship with the British government at the time. In essence, it was a trade agency established in China with the support of the British government after the Sino-British Opium War.

Thanks to a series of unequal port opening treaties signed between the Chinese and British governments after the Opium War, Swire Shipping Company, a subsidiary of Swire Shipping Company, soon became the largest shipping trust of British influence in old China. Swire Shipping Company The behavior rapidly develops the shipping business.

The China Aviation Industry Corporation was also established, with its headquarters in London and branches in Shanghai and Hong Kong. It is affiliated to the Swire Pacific Group and specializes in operating China's coastal, Yangtze River and China's overseas routes.

At that time, Swire's ships ranked first among foreign shipping companies in China in both total number and tonnage. At that time, the only trading and freight company that could compete with Swire in China was Jardine Matheso. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, .

Both major banks, Swire and Jardine Matheson, moved their headquarters to Hong Kong. In addition to developing its main business of shipping, Swire also promptly increased real estate development in Hong Kong, becoming one of Hong Kong's mainstream real estate developers.

As early as the 1930s, Swire's business in China became increasingly diversified, which also enabled the company to make up for its losses internally. Even in the context of the global economic crisis, the group's financial resources remained strong.

This made Swire managers, who had always been ambitious about Shanghai's real estate market, decide to carry out extensive construction in the city center and build a luxurious headquarters building in Shanghai, which is today's Building 1 of Xingguo Hotel.