Dowager Empress Cixi was the ultimate luxury Chinese consumer. The fine dining, the garden estates, the jade and caviar facials, the marble-swathed everything (even boats!) – she was flagrantly indulging in the luxe lifestyle long before the LV and Lexus luvvies of today. Given the chance, she’d no doubt have been an Aman junkie too – and would have loved that Aman’s latest property has opened right beside her Summer Palace.

Today, hordes of travellers from across China and the world don Nikes and baseball caps and make the pilgrimage to the Summer Palace in Beijing’s northwest, just 15 kilometers from the Forbidden City. The 290-hectare gardens by Kunming Lake were originally built in 1750 as the Qing dynasty imperial summer retreat. Ignoring the six-million-strong tourist brigade that tramples through the pavilions, temples and painted corridors each year, and the dim, dusty state of the interiors today, you can begin to imagine what holidays here were like for the privileged few.

A much better way of getting a feel for life as an exalted emperor/ess is by following the old stone wall around to the quieter eastern side of the estate, and swinging right just before you reach the ticket gate into the soporific arrival courtyard of the new Aman Summer Palace hotel. The driveway leads past stone lions with flamboyant red rosette collars and around a traditional shadow wall before ascending to the red-columned porte-cochere of the main entrance pavilion, like you were being delivered to the Palace itself.

Built in the same style as the Summer Palace, Aman occupies a series of dwellings, some of which date back over a century and were used by palace guests awaiting an audience with the Dowager Empress (aka Dragon Lady). The owners have been planning a hotel here for 20 years, but it wasn’t until Aman came on board three years ago that they felt they had a partner that could do the historic site justice.

Regarded as the one of the world’s most indulgent resort brands, Adrian Zecha’s Aman group commands a dedicated following of ‘Aman junkies’ who travel the world to stay at the 19 Aman resorts. The Beijing property is the first urban resort (a second has just opened in New Delhi) for the company that has built its reputation on developing lush resorts in spiritual, edge-of-the-earth locales. “There is no formula,” Zecha is quoted as saying. “The main concept includes amazing settings, impeccable service and minimalist elegance. It is important that all the hotels offer a different experience.”

In Beijing, that experience unfolds like a mini Forbidden City, passing through a procession of pavilions and meditative courtyards. Grey stone paths meander around willow-studded lakes, through colourful corridors modeled on the Summer Palace’s Long Corridor, and into grassy internal courtyards leading to the 51 rooms and suites. These are arranged in traditional siheyuan style with sloping, shingled roofs and towering ceilings. Apart from soft melodies floating from silk-clad erhu and guzheng players stationed in waterside pavilions and the faint hum of activity in the palace grounds next door, all is remarkably still and deliciously exclusive.

The Aman design team led by Jaya Ibrim have referenced traditional materials and design details of the region and period while remaining true to the minimal contemporary Aman aesthetic – hitting a perfect balance of past and present; minimal and luxurious. Hand-polished traditional ‘Jin clay tiles’ line the floors, the exposed wooden roof beams interlock with du gong brackets instead of nails, and furnishings reflect elegant Ming lines, but beyond that it's the peaceful, dignified atmosphere of the palace that was the designers’ main inspiration.

Although it has just 51 rooms, Aman has 357 staff and four restaurants that, along with hotel guests, management hopes will attract daytrippers looking for a special lunch after a morning exploring the Summer Palace and officials who appreciate entertaining in a place of such historical significance. Our pick of the restaurants is undoubtedly Naoki, a French kaiseki diner named after Chef Naoki Okumura of Kyoto serving light, intelligent cuisine presented with a refined Japanese aesthetic. The resort also boasts an underground spa, pool, two squash courts, a gym, Pilates studio, private hairdressing suites and a cinema with 38 reclining sofas.

Just soaking in these cultured surrounds is pleasure enough, but Aman also offers suitably cosseted cultural experiences of Beijing, starting in the resort’s lavish Music Pavilion, where a paper-cutter, calligrapher and tea sommelier swirl, slice and steep on alternate afternoons. Beyond the grounds, there are bespoke private tours to the Great Wall, Forbidden City and other iconic sites getting up close and personal with interesting locals and into usually inaccessible nooks. After the Summer Palace gates close to the public at sundown, you can even slip through Aman’s private doorway and enjoy a real taste of imperial fancy with a private lantern-lit dinner in Cixi’s own stamping grounds.

The Aman at the Summer Palace
14 Gongmenqian St, Summer Palace, Beijing
010 5987 9999
www.amanresorts.com