Biejing MO burned down
 

Beautiful building..

http://austcham.org/_webnd/images/im...8-91281498.jpg

sad news. hotel was not officially opened yet, but had been used during the olympics. soft opening was scheduled for summer '09. last few hours of fireworks for the year and this happens :(
luckily only 7 minor injuries.

I wonder how the Chinese can spin this event into a good thing?

There must be some kind of explanation as to how it betters
the country. As a foreigner I can't grasp it.

Although this has been stated in at least one news story it is incorrect. I toured the hotel with the chief engineer in October, well after the Olympics, and no parts of it whatsoever were remotely ready for occupancy: it was still little more than a glazed shell, filled with loose building materials, showers of sparks, and so on. Communication required walkie-talkies: hard hats were essential.

And although news reports have been describing it as a hotel on fire, the building is actually the TVCC, or Television Cultural Centre, of which the hotel is just one part.

Peter N-H
China

aftermath pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuzheado/

Fatality Report


The blaze, which started late yesterday and was under control today, left one firefighter dead and six people in the hospital.

Firefighter named Zhang Jianyong, 30, died at Chaoyang Hospital at around 3 a.m. Xinhua reported,

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_10794146.htm



The blaze that caused one death and six injuries at a hotel near the new China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters in Beijing Monday night was caused by fireworks

CCTV hired staff from a fireworks company to ignite several hundred large festive firecrackers in an open space outside the nearly-completed Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

http://search.news.cn/language/searc...1=beijing+fire

火烧旺地

It's an old saying Chinese often use to spin this kind of event. It means the fire makes the land more prosperous.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/newss...l#post11232502

Above is from FT's Newstand subforum. I live 5 minutes from this building and already posted observations in that forum. As an architect and construction professional, I very much would like to see a good investigation and analysis on what happened. Not that I'm holding my breath expecting anything made public from the Chinese.

CCTV is the culprit
 

CCTV apologized as one of their employees hired third party company for some fireworks. Now it's up to the insurance companies to sort through this mess. Neither CCTV or MO were operational, and obviously the hotel will have to be rebuilt (or ???).

Again, the building is the TVCC, not CCTV building, although it stands next to that as part of the same complex. The CCTV building is undamaged, and from the look of the photographs, so is a third building housing the plant for both buildings (heating, aircon, etc).

The hotel is just one part of the TVCC building, which also houses a large theatre and other cultural facilities. Mandarin Oriental has been contracted to manage the hotel part, but does not own any part of the building. Even assuming the building is repaired or re-constructed, whether the section originally intended to open as the Mandarin Oriental Beijing will open as that, as another brand of hotel, or given the glut of quality hotel rooms in Beijing is possibly redesigned for other uses, remains to be seen.

yeah, read about CCTV apologizing, quite surprising if you ask me. most definitely will have to be rebuilt.

either try harder to GRASP it or dont continue to give your tirade of ridiculous rants VS china ....many of your comments border on comments a xenophobe would make...whats eating you ?

What's the purpose behind the fireworks to begin with?

To scare away a beast "年兽" that comes every year.
It doesn't like loud noise or color red.

Hence if there is a fire caused as a result of it there would seem to be
some significance to the positive. Which was kindly answered above by rdchen.

What's eating Gilbert Grape?:p