Just outside the Grand Hyatt Beijing is an old brick building with a worn green ceramic tile roof. The ridge caps have amazing ceramic animals following each other down the ridge terminated by large dragons with horns and fangs. There was something captivating about having a very old, ornate building juxtaposed against huge steel beam and shimmering glass skyscrapers. It was enough to catch my attention and curiosity.
So, I asked the hotel staff what the building ("with the green roof out back") was. They promptly replied that it was quite famous and the name of the building was Xie He Yi Yuan (which meant absolutely nothing to me, being mostly illiterate in Chinese). So, having failed miserably to understand the "who" of it, I tried a second question, "what" is it? It turns out that building has been a center for traditional Chinese medicine for over 100 years and, even though newer buildings have been acquired, this location was still preserved and operated due to it's historic stature and traditional architecture. Apparently, the latter part of the name, Yi Yuan means hospital.
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