Under repair, under fire
- Source: Global Times
- [22:08 January 28 2010]
- Comments
The charred corpse of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel building, right, stands adjacent to the new CCTV tower - dubbed "short pants" by Beijingers, on February 27 last year. Photo: IC
By Xu Donghuan
Behind one of the guards, a red banner on the wall reads, "Fireworks strictly prohibited at construction sites and surrounding areas."
Two guards in clumsy coats stand face to face on each end of a lowered barricade outside the south gate of the new China Central Television (CCTV) compound toward the west end of Guanghua Lu. Vehicles and construction workers show their passes to go through.
A couple of university students on their winter holidays from Shenyang, capital city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China, stood not far from the gate, staring up at the blackened hulk – the Mandarin Oriental Hotel – to the north of what Beijingers call the "short pants" or CCTV tower.
"We watched the fire on the Internet last year," said one of the women. "This time we came here to take a look, but we didn't expect so little repair work had been done so far."
Across the street, another man who appeared in his late 20s was taking a photo of the scorched building with his mobile phone.
"Every day, we have scores of tourists from outside Beijing stop at the gate," said one of the guards. "They're curious to know what's going on inside."
No fire in living memory has triggered as much public outcry in China as the one at the new CCTV headquarters that partly engulfed one of Beijing's most architecturally celebrated complexes.
The 34-storey building, containing a five-star hotel and a 1,500-seat theater, is part of CCTV's new headquarters, built to coincide with Beijing's Olympics last year.
Ignited by an illegal fireworks display, the fierce blaze broke out on February 9, the final night of lunar new year celebrations. Lasting almost six hours, the inferno gutted the 241-room futuristic hotel, killing 29-year-old firefighter Zhang Jianyong and injuring others. The main CCTV tower was unharmed by the fire.
