The Oriental Riverside Hotel gained fame quickly after providing seven main venues for the Asia Pacific Economy Co-operation (APEC) sumit meetings last October; the most special being the Shanghai Grand Ballroom - known as the "Largest Room in Pudong" - which hosted the feast for 3,000 people.

Fortune 500 also held seminars here in 1999.

The architecture, with two prominent balls as the globe, was designated one of the 10 scenic spots of Shanghai.

Now, for 50 yuan ($6), you can take a tour of this structure - 26 different-styled multi-functional meeting rooms, 260 guestrooms and 10 ballrooms.

It has 39 lifts stretching into every part of the building and it once took a new staff member three weeks to learn the interior arrangement. She still claims to lose her way from time to time.

Thus, security preparations for APEC took more than one year to finalize.

President Jiang Zemin went to inspect the Grand Ballroom by himself two days before the feast was held and gave his praise.

The ballroom is the largest no-pillar one in China, even surpassing the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Spacious and splendid is the first impression of anyone who visits. The space can be divided into four smaller parts by electronic partitions.

The ballroom lies between the two "globes," which are actually not of the same size and have meeting rooms and guestrooms inside.

The Japanese designer for the architecture emphasized dainty details to make use of each space well.

People can see a nice view of both Pudong and the Bund in Puxi, where world leaders appreciated magnificent fireworks during the APEC.

( Shanghai Star April 4, 2002)