Moscow Restaurant () is a Russian restaurant located in

Xicheng District Xicheng () is a district of the city of Beijing. Its cover the western half of the old city (largely inside the 2nd Ring Road; the eastern half is Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District), and has 1,106,214 inhabitants (2020 Census). It ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Founded in 1954 as part of the former Soviet Exhibition Center, the restaurant was intended to foster friendship and cultural understanding between the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. As one of the first Western restaurants in the nation's capital, Moscow Restaurant holds a nostalgic position in Beijing. Still operating to this day, the restaurant is affectionately nicknamed "Old Moscow" ( Chinese: 老莫,

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: lǎo mò).

History

Having lasted through the "honeymoon" period of Sino-Soviet relations, the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their ...

, and the eventual

fall of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of Nationalities, Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. :s: ...

, the Moscow Restaurant is a historical testament to the changes in

China–Soviet Union relations Sino-Soviet relations (; , ''sovetsko-kitayskiye otnosheniya''), or China–Soviet Union relations, refers to the diplomatic relationship between China (both the Chinese Republic of 1912–1949 and its successor, the People's Republic of China) ...

Founding and popularity

Like the rest of the Beijing Exhibition Center complex, the Moscow Restaurant was designed by Soviet architects. Originally named the Soviet Exhibition Center, the project was intended to showcase the modernity of

Stalinist architecture Stalinist architecture (), mostly known in the former Eastern Bloc as Stalinist style or socialist classicism, is the architecture of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, between 1933 (when Boris Iofan's draft for the Palace o ...

and let Chinese citizens learn more about life and culture in the Soviet Union. As one of the "Sino-Soviet friendship buildings", it was part of an attempt to modernize China by modelling the nation after the Soviet Union. In the 1950s, the restaurant first served Soviet visitors such as ambassadors, advisors, and scientists, as well as Chinese students that had returned from studying in the Soviet Union. During the Moscow Restaurant's grand opening, then-Premiere

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...

invited

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

's delegation to dine there at a state banquet. Beyond serving the USSR

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

and other Soviet expats, for the Chinese, only politicians and celebrities had access to the meal tickets required to get in. After the restaurant opened to the general public and started accepting cash, the high prices made the opportunity to dine at the Moscow Restaurant a rare and prized event. With the Chinese government portraying the Soviet Union as a prosperous utopia that China would soon achieve as well, the Moscow Restaurant became a status symbol of modernity. Despite many being unaccustomed to Russian cuisine, young people saved up so that they could go to the restaurant. Representative of the admiration held for the Soviet Union at the time, one man saved his money for three months in order to take his girlfriend to the Moscow Restaurant, where he proposed to her while singing

Moscow Nights "Moscow Nights", originally titled "Leningrad Nights", is a Soviet patriotic song written by Mikhail Matusovsky and composed by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoy. It was later covered as "Midnight in Moscow" by Kenny Ball. Composition and initial succ ...

Sino-Soviet split and Cultural Revolution

The Moscow Restaurant remained popular until the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, and the restaurant was denounced as counter-revolutionary. Soviet cultural import began to be prohibited, and the Chinese government renamed the Soviet Exhibition Center to the Beijing Exhibition Center. The restaurant changed its name to the Beijing Exhibition Restaurant. During the start of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, the

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

stormed into the restaurant, accusing the kitchen staff of cooking " revisionist food" while using the dining hall as a place to sleep. The Soviet-trained cooks were told to make only

Chinese food Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from China, as well as from Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has profoundly influenced many ...

, and after shutting down for a year, the restaurant reopened as a

cafeteria A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a scho ...

that only served simple Chinese dishes such as

fried rice Fried rice is a dish of cooked rice that has been stir-fried in a wok or a frying pan and is usually mixed with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, seafood, or meat. It is often eaten by itself or as an accompaniment to another dis ...

. Its Western food service was only restored in 1969 at the end of Cultural Revolution, becoming once again the only publicly-open Western restaurant in all of Beijing.

Revitalization

After the liberalization of China and facing new challenges from the market, the restaurant slowly changed its operational mode, and on November 7, 1984, the restaurant reverted to its original name. No longer limited to the politically and economically privileged, the Moscow Restaurant became well known across the city. Despite its appearance as a Western fine dining establishment, the dishes were quite affordable, and in the 1980s, the restaurant became a popular place for weddings. Its history as formerly the only foreign restaurant in Beijing has made it a site of nostalgia for older residents; despite the government's best efforts to remove all Soviet influence in the 1960s, the admiration for Soviet culture lived on. With ballroom chandeliers and towering pillars, the restaurant covers and has a current capacity of 600 people. The restaurant underwent renovations in 2000, with its style differing from how it looked in 1954. After complaints from patrons who preferred the older look, the restaurant was renovated again in 2009 to restore the Moscow Restaurant to its original style. Rarely changing its menu, the Moscow Restaurant still serves typical Russian fare as well as dishes common in Western fine dining, such as

borscht Borscht () is a sour soup, made with meat stock, vegetables and seasonings, common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. In English, the word ''borscht'' is most often associated with the soup's variant of Ukrainian origin, made with red b ...

, beef solyanka,

cream of mushroom soup Cream of mushroom soup is a simple type of soup where a basic roux is thinned with cream or milk and then mushrooms or mushroom broth are added. In North America, it is a common canned condensed soup. Cream of mushroom soup is often used as a ...

chicken Kiev Chicken Kiev, also known as chicken Kyiv, is a dish made of chicken fillet pounded and rolled around cold butter, then coated with egg and bread crumbs, and either fried or baked. Since fillets are often referred to as suprêmes in profession ...

, and

kvass Kvass is a fermented, cereal-based, low-alcoholic beverage of cloudy appearance and sweet-sour taste. Kvass originates from northeastern Europe, where grain production was considered insufficient for beer to become a daily drink. The first wr ...

Cultural legacy

The Moscow Restaurant was not only host to many prominent figures such as

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

and

Zhu De Zhu De; (1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Zhu was born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan. He was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...

, but has also figured in many Chinese literary works. Depictions and memories of the Moscow Restaurant are typically split between those who associate it with the revolutionary spirit of the 1950s versus those who more remember it as a nostalgic enjoyment. Notable media which references the Moscow Restaurant include: * '' In the Heat of the Sun'', 1994 film directed by

Jiang Wen Jiang Wen (born 5 January 1963) is a Chinese actor and filmmaker. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "Sixth Generation" that emerged in the 1990s. His representative works include '' In the Heat of the Sun'' (1994), '' Devils on the ...

* ''The Place Where Dreams Start'', 1999 TV series directed by Ye Jing * ''Playing for Thrills'', 1989 novel by author

Wang Shuo Wang Shuo (, born August 23, 1958) is a Chinese writer. A leading figure in “hooligan literature” (痞子文学) and the New Beijing School of Chinese literature, he was influential in the 1980s and 1990s, known for his cynical, irreverent ...

* ''The Singing was like Radiant Spring'', 2000 memoir by former Minister of Culture Wang Meng * ''Romantic Life'', 2004 novel by author Du Liang

References