Park Hotel, located on West Nanjing Road, was the symbol and the pride of Shanghai. It was the tallest building in Shanghai for about 50 years and held the accolade of being the No.1 building in the Far East for nearly 30 years.

　　With a history of more than 70 years, Park Hotel was originally built in 1932 as an investment by four major banks. It was the first skyscraper built by Chinese and the most modern Hotel in Asia during the 1930's.

　　The hotel was designed by Hungarian architect Laslo Vodac and built by the Taoyuji Construction Company. Because the building was so tall there was an interesting saying about it,"If you tilted your head to look at the top of building, your hat would fall off".

　　In the early days the road next to the hotel was called the park road (the present Huanghe Road), thus the name of Park Hotel.

　　The hotel was the meeting place for many famous people in its heyday. Soong Ching Ling, Zhang Xueliang, and Chen Nade were regular patrons. In 1949, Mayor Chen Yi met the senior officials of 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, wrote books, or drew pictures for it and these became the treasure of the hotel.

　　The hotel is also known as the center of the Shanghai city because the Zero Center Point of Shanghai is just marked at the lobby center of the hotel. As a matter of fact, the hotel is a milestone in the history of Chinese construction and hotel development. With its elegant facade, luxurious interior, and its links between past and present, Park Hotel has been a splendid retreat for numerous visitors to Shanghai for nearly a century.