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        Jinling Hotel Nanjing Welcomes PFP Chairman James Soong

Shortly after Lien Chan's visit to Mainland, leader of Taiwan's opposition People First Party (PFP) James Soong began his trip to Mainland and stayed in the Jinling Hotel on May 6 during his visit to the ancient capital Nanjing.
 
As scheduled, the PFP delegation arrived at the Jinling Hotel Nanjing at 10:30pm. Jinling staff gave a warm welcome to the Taiwan guests who had just enjoyed the famous nocturnal views of the Confucius Temple. Soong and his wife Viola Chen, moved by Jinling's hospitality, waved their goodwill to Jinling staff from time to time.
 
Enjoy the Butler Service at the Jinling Suite
The Jinling Management has prepared for Soong and Viola the Jinling Suite on the 29th floor. As the best guestroom in Jinling Hotel, Jinling Suite has been home to Mr. Deng Xiaoping, Mr. Jiang Zemin, Mr.Wu Bangguo, Former French President Mitterrand, Former US President George Bush, and German President Johannes Rau. During their visit to Nanjing, KMT leader Lien Chan and his wife stayed here too. This time the Jinling Management assigned Ms Ding Fang (who has served the Liens), a model staff from Housekeeping Department, to provide 24-hour butler service to James and Viola; and prepared Wulong tea, Longjing tea, Biluochun tea, and local Rain-flower tea for them.
 
Special Breakfast For A Feeling of Home
To give them a feeling of home, Jinling Management changed the usual breakfast menu. The chefs prepared the fried dough inside baked dough with sauce, the traditional and popular Nanjing breakfast for the Taiwan guests. It is 56 years since James has enjoyed it. This special breakfast brought back a lot of sweet memories to James who spent part of his childhood in Nanjing.
 
Nanjing Dialect & Inscription
During his stay here, James Soong impressed the Jinling staff with his kindness and humor. When he was young, James lived in the Baixia Lu and Jiankang Lu, Nanjing. So he could speak a little Nanjing Dialect. In spite of the tight schedule, James seized every moment to brush it up. When he came to know that Ms. Yue Shaomei and Ms. Li Yinjing, the staff serving his breakfast, are native Nanjing, he asked them how to say excellent in Nanjing and then used it immediately to describe their service and the hotel, greatly amused the staff.
 
On May 7, back from the visit to Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum, James met with Ms. Li Jianwei, Chairman of Jinling Hotels & Resorts. Impressed by the golden touch of Jinling hospitality, he left an inscription to the effect that Jinling will have an even brighter future in the ancient capital of Nanjing.
 
Jinling Cuisine Becomes Soong's Favorite
To care about James' dining, Jinling management focused on three things: Jinling features, local flavor, and season's specials.
At noon on May 7, Li Yuanchao, Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and Liang Baohua, Governor of Jiangsu Province, met with James Soong, his wife Viola Chen, and the PFP delegation in the Purple Mountain Ballroom Jinling Hotel and then hosted a welcome banquet. Mr. Li, by presenting a special Golden Dragon made with Yun Brocade, wished a peaceful reunification of Chinese people across the Straits as both share the same origin and culture.
 
In return James Soong gave a piece of artwork in the shape of Crouching Tiger (a symbol of Nanjing) to the hosts and wished a more prosperous future to Jiangsu Province.
 
After discussing with Mr. Sun Xuewu, executive chef of Jinling Hotel Nanjing, Chairman Li decided to add Hunan (James’ hometown) ingredients and combine Hunan and Jinling's traditional Huaiyang flavor. The pork in steamed bamboo shoot with fermented pork and duck in lotus leaves is directly from Hunan; steamed fish head topped with shallot and green chrysanthemum sauce reflects the Hunan flavor with local ingredients; sautéed shelled shrimp with water shield and rain flower tea conveys the quintessential part of Jinling cuisine. Besides these, the chefs prepared authentic Hunan sauce for the guests.
 
During the banquet, James and Viola spoke highly of the Jinling cuisine. Voila was especially impressed by the flavor of stewed shark’s fin with scallop. It is just amazing, said she. The Taiwan guests like the steamed bamboo shoot with fermented pork and duck in lotus leaves most. Gourmets they are, James and Viola enjoyed all the dishes. Viola even asked for some Jinling dim sum for the flight in the afternoon.
 
Jinling Mascot for A Smooth Journey
After a short stay of only 20 hours, James and Viola left the Jinling Hotel. Before their leaving, Chairman Li presented the Jinling Hotel Recipe 88 and a Jinling Mascot to Viola and a golden Jinling Hotel logo to James. We sincerely wish that you could come again in the future, said Chairman Li. James expressed his gratitude by raising both hands and Viola gave her thumb to the Jinling staff.
 
The Taiwan guests have enjoyed their stay and got a feeling of home with all the efforts by Jinling staff.