"Set the scene.A hushed dream of tea ceremonies and ancient camphor trees, brought into the 21st-century with a calligrapher’s touch by late Australian architect Kerry Hill. Hill’s team designed a zen-geometric modern estate around 14 Ming and Qing dynasty villas, shipped 434 miles from Jiangxi province and painstakingly restored. Ma Dadong, the shy philanthropist behind it all, is often whispered-about and spied on the grounds, but rarely spoken to. What’s the story?In 2002, 29-year-old property millionaire Ma went home to see his parents in Fuzhou City, Jiangxi province, southwest of Shanghai. It was there that he heard of plans for a new reservoir that would submerge a series of nearby ancient villages, and thousands of even older camphor trees, some of them worshipped like deities. Horrified by this cultural desecration, he struck a deal with the government to uproot 10,000 trees and 50 ornate dwellings, some up to 500 years old, moving them piece by piece to a series of warehouses outside Shanghai. In 2005, Ma rebuilt one as an experiment, enlisting a crack team of experts to put every stone, relief, and beam in its correct place, but tweaking and adding new rooms for airy modern purpose. When Aman founder and former head Adrian Zecha came round for dinner in 2009, he was wowed into a big idea: why not make the ancient buildings the foundation of a new Aman resort, surrounded by replanted camphor forests? In 2018, the idea—at once bold and restrained—finally came to fruition. What can we expect from the bedrooms?Every one of the 13 walled antique villas you can sleep in is wholly individual, but each has four or five bedrooms and a thin rectangular pool. Angular modern wings and courtyards were added to the original gray-stone Jiangxi buildings, in which Kerry Hill’s mod-minimal interiors work in harmony with dark nanmu wood pillars and ornate carvings. The 24 newly built suites are classic Aman/Hill—all muted cedar and slate—but with touches like lattice screens and private courtyards nodding to the dynastic vibe. How about the food and drink?Dining, in a row of temple-like minimalist spaces, is about precision rather than culinary fireworks. Lazhu—Cantonese, with hints of Jiangxi—seems primarily aimed at a local market, with sea cucumber and abalone along with more Western-friendly favorites such as a rich crab xiaolongbao. Both kaiseki restaurant Nama and Italian Arva stick broadly to the classics—think oo toro tuna belly sashimi at the former, ravioli cacio e pepe at the latter. All beautifully prepared, of course. Anything to say about the service?The standard Aman ratio is four staff members to every guest, and the multicultural crew here seem extra eager to please. Usually, it’s charming; just occasionally, it borders on intense. What type of person stays here?Well-heeled 30- and 40-something Shanghainese couples fleeing the old French Concession for the weekend. Hong Kong bankers and designers who wouldn't be out of place in a Patek Philippe ad. The odd stiffly formal business group. What’s the neighborhood scene like?There isn’t one. This is Minhang, a Shanghai boondocks; fragments of billboards and urban sprawl can be seen through Amanyangyun’s precision-planted camphor forests. Anything we missed?Nanshufang, the 14th of the ancient villas, is the spiritual heart of Amanyangyun—a cultural center inspired by the scholars' studios of 17th-century China, which reflects China’s growing appreciation of its imperial past. Airy, incensed rooms filled with dark nanmu furniture host master classes in everything from calligraphy to brush painting and the guqin, the seven-stringed instrument favored by Confucius. The instrument’s wave-like vibrato is the background to tea ceremonies that fall somewhere between liturgy and meditation. Morning yoga is at the angular spa, one of the largest in the Shanghai area. Is it worth it, and if so, why?It’s one of the most astonishing restoration projects of any hotel on the planet, executed down to the last stone. But the sheer formal restraint of it all can feel chilly. It’s a hotel to inspire admiration, even awe, but not always warmth." - Toby Skinner
