Peking Redux

Much of historic Beijing is being flattened in the name of redevelopment, but not, mercifully, its oldest hotel. Located a dumpling's throw from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the extravagant, 90-year-old building formerly known as the Grand Hôtel de Pékin is now the Raffles Beijing, beijing.raffles.com . When Raffles Hotels & Resorts—owner of Singapore's famed Raffles Hotel—took over the management reins last year, it led a no-expense-spared effort to restore the sort of style the hotel enjoyed in the days when the likes of George Bernard Shaw, Sun Yat-sen and Henri Cartier-Bresson graced its rooms (in fact, nine Personality...