RESPLENDENT in a pleated chef’s hat, Yang Zhibin supervises the kitchens of Kiessling’s restaurant in the resort town of Beidaihe, where he has worked since 1971 and where, every August, China’s political elite gathers for highly secretive meetings. Now head chef, Mr Yang helps ensure that little changes at the resort’s grandest restaurant. “There are over 20 dishes on the menu that we’ve been cooking for 100 years,” he says. “We wanted to keep the traditional style.” A diner who gives his name as just Houzi (meaning “monkey”) says: “I first came to Kiessling’s 30 years ago. Only the prices have changed.”
The town of Beidaihe, a beach resort 175 miles (280km) east of Beijing, feels stuck in a time warp. Hotels even have embroidered sheets. Yet as the annual political gathering ended on August 16th, Beidaihe’s staid, timeless feel was proving misleading. The country’s politics has entered a period of unusual uncertainty and tension. In the coming months President Xi Jinping will supervise sweeping changes to the party’s leadership at every level, culminating late next year in the unveiling of a new Politburo (which he will...Continue reading
Source: China http://ift.tt/2b1SaPM
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