Here is a video shot by my daughter, Moira, while she and I were speaking on the phone – me in Tianjin, she just west of the Third Ring Rd. – while the Television Culture Center (TVCC) went up in fire and smoke. She mentions on the vid that the building appears to be in the process of collapsing, though, in fact, it did not. And as of this moment, it still hasn’t. This video was taken from the entrance to the Grand Millennium Hotel, west of NW entrance (B) of Jintaixizhao Subway Station. The camera’s looking east at the west side of the TVCC at 9:47 PM.
China Central Television has apologized to the people for burning down their own building, as well as violating the law by not having a permit for setting off such heavy duty fireworks in the middle of the city. If they had gotten a license, I assume that would have meant that fire trucks would have been present before the show began, thereby …. Why even bother. There is a veritable gold mine of local and international lessons here, but I am going to resist kicking the dog, at least today.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Gabrielle // Feb 17, 2009 at 3:37 am
Now that is what I call a fire.
2 Expatriate Games // Feb 18, 2009 at 4:58 am
Pretty dramatic footage there…
I have seen lots of photos but had seen any video until now.
3 jg // Feb 18, 2009 at 5:32 am
Any compliments for the video go to my daughter, who was on the seen and stayed on-seen for 3-4 hours. I will go to Beijing tomorrow and spend some time getting more photos of this very unexpected Phase Two. Soon enough they’ll be catching up with China World Trade Center, which is now wrapping up Phase Three.
4 Koolhaas, Bigness and Beijing // Apr 24, 2012 at 12:06 pm
[...] that define the complex. The other two buildings are the TVCC, aka Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which spectacularly burned on February 9, 2009, and the Service Building, the low profile “central energy center” [...]
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