Some things you just have to preserve and relocate so they can outlast time in a place where they are valued and admired. Sometimes, that is a whole forest of centuries-old camphor trees, each one of them up to 30 meters high. 10,000 sacred trees were in the way of a dam project in Jiangxi Province, so botanists and engineers excavated them and replanted them 700 kilometers further, near the gates of Shanghai. Along with them, 25 village houses from the Ming and Qing Dynasty were moved to the same place. They were deconstructed stone by stone and equally rebuilt to now form the heart of the new luxury hotel Amanyangyun, a 40-minute drive outside of Shanghai – in the middle of the forest of sacred trees.

All of this was complemented by 24 newly built one-bedroom suites that blend in perfectly – each with two private courtyards, one outdoor bath and fireplace. It is a place where you can feel the spirit of China, where you can feel what the Middle Kingdom is all about. Close to the pulse of Shanghai, easy to reach – and yet in a completely different world. How nice that such a place exists – and that we can design the right journey for you.

Photo: © AMAN, Chen Yifan