The official Xinhua New Agency said the fire gutted the hotel in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, before dawn Thursday. No injuries were reported.
Xinhua said firefighters had trouble dealing with the fire because their fire engines shot water up only 165 feet, while the building was 720-feet tall.
The nearby Sheraton Lido hotel was also evacuated, Reuters reported.
New Year fires are common in China, with the Beijing News saying there were more than 160 small ones in the capital alone. The most famous in recent years destroyed a hotel under construction next to state broadcaster CCTV's iconic headquarters in Beijing in 2009.
Meanwhile, Chinese leaders celebrated the Year of the Rabbit with visits to the drought-stricken north while ordinary citizens rocked city streets with cacophonous fireworks.
They don't care the fireworks must go on.
-AL
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