Restaurant Stays Warm For Refit A 143-YEAR-OLD Beijing roast duck restaurant may be closed for renovations but it is not about to let its ovens go cold. To maintain its tradition, the restaurant said it will keep embers from its wood-fired ovens burning during the six-month refurbishing job. The oldest outlet of Quanjude Group of roast duck restaurants, on Qianmen Street in downtown Beijing, closed for business recently. A ceremony to preserve the oven fire, which the restaurant says has not been extinguished since it first opened in 1864, was conducted before the end of business at 8pm. The restaurant says it will keep embers burning in an ancient cooking vessel that will be kept on-site during the renovations. "We have prepared a copper vessel and will place the burning embers inside the vessel at 8pm sharp," said Jiang Junxian, chairman of the board of Quanjude Group Co just before closing. According to Jiang, staff were assigned to add fuel each day to keep the fires burning. The renovations of the Qianmen outlet are being carried out at the same time as the massive redevelopment of Qianmen Street, said Wang Xiaoshan, a spokesperson for the restaurant chain.  Jiang said the redevelopment of Qianmen Street provided the Qianmen roast duck restaurant with an opportunity to expand. "The restaurant has been operating beyond its capacity for a long time, and there have been long queues of customers waiting to dine at the restaurant each day," said Jiang. "I bet there will be even more customers wanting to taste the famous Quanjude roast duck during the Olympic Games in Beijing next year, so there is an urgent need to improve the dining environment and expand the seating capacity of the restaurant." When Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant resumes service about October 1 - the 58th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China - its total floor space will have been expanded by 1,000 square meters. The founder of Quanjude was a farmer named Yang Quanren from north China's Hebei Province. He grew up raising ducks for his landlord before going into business for himself. In 1864, he bought a bankrupt fruit store and turned it into a restaurant specializing in duck cuisine. Acting on the suggestion of his fortune teller, he decided to call the new restaurant Quanjude. In 2004, the World Brand Laboratory estimated that the brand name, Quanjude, to be worth 8.5 billion yuan (US$1 billion). Quanjude operates seven roast duck restaurants in Beijing and three in other parts of the country. It also has 50-odd franchise outlets, including one in Tokyo, said a Quanjude Group manager. The restaurant estimates it has served more than 150 million ducks in about 140 years of service. top