The first Western-style restaurant in Guangzhou has reopened to the delight of diners at the century-old establishment.
　　
　　Huang Bo, a 70-year old resident of the capital of Guangdong Province, had the honor of being the first diner at the reopened Taipingguan on Saturday.
　　
　　The famous restaurant was closed in January due to a rent dispute with the property owner.
　　
　　"I have visited the restaurant over the last few decades, and I am lucky today to be the first visitor when it reopened," Huang said.
　　
　　Throngs of local residents flooded back to the restaurant at the weekend.
　　
　　"The restaurant was very popular with many local residents coming on its reopening day and a total of 150 seats were fully occupied," said He Yongyi, general manager of the restaurant, where he has worked for 25 years.
　　
　　"Since it has a history of more than 120 years, we have high expectations that more people will visit the restaurant in the days to come," said He.
　　
　　Taipingguan opened on Beijing Road in 1885 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In 1925, Premier Zhou Enlai invited friends for dinner at the restaurant after his wedding.
　　
　　In 2000, the Guangzhou municipal government declared it one of the city‘s oldest restaurants.
　　
　　Two years later the Guangzhou-based Dongjiang Seafood Group, the operator of the restaurant, signed a 10-year lease with the property owner, Guangzhou Food and Eatery Group.
　　
　　Dongjiang has developed a chain of four restaurants under the name of Taipingguan in Hong Kong.
　　
　　During the past few decades, the restaurant has served more than 800 different Western-style dishes, according to Guangzhou Daily.
　　
　　Some people who have lived in the city for decades still remember trying the original meals that Premier Zhou had for his dinner.
　　
　　"As people attach more importance to the original flavor of Western-style dishes nowadays, the restaurant will keep its previous features and style after its reopening," said Li Yongxing, a representative from the Dongjiang Seafood Group.
　　
　　Guangzhou boasts about 3,000 restaurants serving Western-style dishes, making up about 45 per cent of the total, according to Li.
　　
　　"The brand of Taipingguan has given us confidence to rebuild the restaurant," said Li.
　　
　　Li said that the restaurant will still specialize in Western-style dishes and the price of each dish now ranges from 40-120 yuan (US$4.80-14.50) which is acceptable to the city‘s thriving middle-class residents.
　　
　　As Chinese society opens further to the outside world, Guangzhou, like other big Chinese cities, has witnessed more and more people, especially the young, develop a penchant for Western-style food.
　　
　　In addition, as a way to draw more older diners to the restaurant, a picture of Zhou Enlai and his wife with a number of other old pictures reflecting Guangzhou‘s history now hang on the walls.
　　
　　Li said the company has invested about 2 million yuan (US$241,800) to renovate the restaurant.
　　
　　(China Daily March 29, 2005)