A LANE on Huashan Lu, close to Changshu Lu, is a typical old-style Shanghai residential area with dozens of low buildings. However, recently, a red "shed" propped up against one of the houses has made it a little more eye-catching and different - it's a boutique hotel, maybe the first of its kind in Shanghai.

The interior of the Old House Inn was designed by a Shanghainese architect Wu Haiqing, who was one of the first group of Chinese to study abroad during the craze for going overseas in the 1980s.

The inside was an unbelievably eye-catching place, full of Chinese flavour dotted with the latest fashionable elements.

The dark-coloured furniture was in the style of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Colourful light curtains hanging above the wooden Chinese beds added energy and charm to the room.

A sideline

The bathrooms were installed with modern equipment and on the mosaic walls a mirror in a carved wooden frame was hanging.

The hotel was actually "kind of an after-hours hobby" for Wu and it is really managed by Wu's wife, Vivian Dai, an interior designer.

"I didn't expect to obtain great fortune from the small inn, but I do have interest in creating something different," Wu said.

The old building where this boutique hotel is located was set up during the 1920s and was owned by a textile entrepreneur.

The building was originally in Western style with Chinese furniture and Wu has kept the flavour.

"I hoped to make it a simple but elegant hotel, so I chose furniture in Ming Dynasty style which was simple in design rather than that of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) with exquisite ornamentation," Wu said.

He has his own architecture company registered in the US which operates in Shanghai and Beijing.

The "old house" hotel has 12 rooms and although each of them looks uniform in style, something unique can always be detected in every room.

Although it has been renovated and decorated, the creaking sound of the wooden floors and stairs when people step on them betrays the real age of the building.

Wu has thickened the walls to allow guests more privacy.

Unlike star-ranked hotels, the boutique hotel can provide bachelor services 24 hours a day and guests can be greeted by their names.

"I don't want to attract too many guests, but I really hope that a group of people who have the same interest as me will love it," he said.

Jazz was lingering in the fancy restaurant with old chairs and tables under flowery gauze.

Wu has spent a lot of time in selecting a lot of the furniture in local flea markets.

"I think 60 per cent of my blood is Chinese, while the rest is Western," he said.

The way home

Wu graduated from the architecture school in Tongji University, a leading and renowned school in China, in the mid 1980s. He was assigned to a State-owned working unit afterwards.

His yearning to go overseas to have a look at a more developed world made him bravely quit his job and go to study in the US in 1987.

When he first landed in the US, he had only US$200 in his pocket but he had a half-scholarship from the New Jersy Institute of Technology. Wu had to worked part-time as waiter.

"When all the Chinese students were around I felt I was leading the same old life," Wu said. "I didn't feel mine was full of hardness," Wu said. One year later, he began to live better.

Wu found a good job after graduation and had a stable and comfortable life. He has also purchased a house in the US.

"At the very beginning when I left China, I felt that I would certainly come back one day," he said.

His visit to Shanghai in 1993 made him decide to give up his life in the US and return to his hometown, which in some people's eyes was crazy or foolish.

At that time, the practice of architecture started to flourish and Wu thought it the right time to jump aboard the rising sector.

Settling down

"I didn't think I would live a worse life if I came back to Shanghai at that time, though at first I couldn't get used to being back in this society," he said.

The expression hai gui has been ranked as one of the most popular in the Chinese vocabulary. It means a person who studied overseas and then came back to work in China.

Wu was among the first hai gui in the early 1990s.

"In fact, it was not because of patriotism but due to the rising market in China for personal development of talented people. I think that's the real reason why most hai gui come back," he said.

Being interested in both architecture and interior design, Wu's company specialized in several fields, such as structures and facilities.

His staff has increased from 20 to 70 and many of their "works" can be seen on Huaihai Zhonglu, People's Square and other downtown areas.

At present, his boutique hotel is running well and Wu is looking for other places to open chain hotels.

"It should not be done in a hurry. I must find old buildings in the right place and in the right style," he said.