YuanGu

YuanGu (元古) is a Chinese lifestyle brand founded in 2016 that began as a hutong-based Chinese-style dessert shop and evolved into a broader exploration of Chinese aesthetics . The brand is built around twenty-four solar term desserts and has expanded into a creative Chinese dining and wine concept, positioning itself as an experiential space rather than a conventional restaurant . In 2020, ZhenFund invested in YuanGu at the angel round . Six years after its founding, the team launched a sister brand, Tangsuo (瑭所), which founder Gan Yizhe describes as a more accessible gift-shop format meant for daily life, while YuanGu itself remains closer to a "hermitage" space with Zen-inspired aesthetics . The operation is deliberately slow: Gan has rejected moves like shifting to takeout, increasing table density, or relocating to cheaper office towers on the grounds that they would erode the brand's core value .