Beijing Television Cultural Center fire

The building was adjacent to the CCTV Headquarters, is owned by China Central Television, and was scheduled for completion in May 2009. CCTV officials had authorised the powerful pyrotechnics, carried it out without the required permit from local government, and ignored repeated police warnings not to hold them.

CCTV later apologized to the public for the inconvenience, mainly traffic re-direction, they caused. An amateur video that was uploaded on the Internet showed the fire starting after a shell from the fireworks landed on the roof of the uncompleted construction. No detailed damage estimate has been released yet. The building was to be named Television Cultural Center , TVCC, with the Beijing Mandarin Oriental being its main tenant. Its nicknames include the Termite s Nest or the Boot because of its radical design.

The building, along with the CCTV Headquarters Building, was built using far less steel than conventional skyscrapers, The construction budget of the building is said to be near US$730 million. The cause has been linked to a massive Chinese New Year fireworks display in the compound, authorized by CCTV itself, without the permission or participation from Beijing police, the Beijing Fire Department, Beijing City government, or any other governmental department. Six hundred firefighters arrived on the scene to fight the blaze, Xinhua reported, and the municipal public security bureau confirmed, that Beijing police detained an official of CCTV. The building, which was originally scheduled to open soon, may be occupied beginning in late 2009. .

The Beijing Television Cultural Center fire was a massive blaze on 9 February 2009, in the centre of Beijing, involving the uncompleted Television Cultural Center (TVCC) building. Xu himself is alleged to have received a commission of CNY80,000. A memo from government officials, which was posted on the Internet, made clear that authorities were eager to downplay the blaze, a colossal embarrassment that many people believe augurs poorly for the new year , according to The New York Times. No images of the blaze or the building were broadcast on state television, and the Xinhua website sidelined the story. Li Xiguang, journalism professor at Beijing s Tsinghua University said the decision not to show coverage was stupid and damaged the credibility of CCTV. James Fallows wrote:that the perils of the fireworks and firecrackers are more than a joke..

However Rem Koolhaas said that they are simply rebuilding it as it was, because there was no structural damage. As a result of the fire, one firefighter died and several others were reportedly injured. The complex s main building, the gravity-defying, doughnut-shaped structure, was not damaged. A nearby unauthorised fireworks display caused the fire. The incident, and its coverage by Chinese state media, caused a furore in China.

Large number of commentaries and spoofs (often using the trendy image of Grass Mud Horse) also reflect netizens’ common critical view of CCTV as a powerful and monopoly state-run propaganda machine. Currently, the BTCC is being rebuilt. At 8:27 pm on 9 February 2009, the entire building caught fire on the last day of the festivities marking the Chinese new year and was put out six hours later.

The hotel is insured for US$220 million, with the actual amount of the payout to be decided after the police investigation ends. According to Caijing, the actual cost of the fireworks display was CNY350,000; however, CCTV was billed 1 million for it by a legal entity controlled by Xu Wei, the construction manager. The authorities attempts to limit damaging direct coverage of the blaze was criticised by citizens and the international press. Construction was started in 2004 and was expected to be completed in May 2009.

It noted there was a storm of criticism that the state broadcaster which created one of the year’s biggest news stories failed to report the event promptly, or honestly. The initial images of the blaze suggested that the tower might be nearly destroyed. Xu Wei (徐威), in charge of the CCTV construction site, was taken to a police station in eastern Beijing s central business district, suspected of being the organiser of the fireworks display. The Beijing Municipal Fire Brigade confirmed that the cause of fire was the illegal use of highly explosive fireworks at the construction site.

Some of the sharper and more critical posts were quickly being deleted by the authorities, but many humorous images and cartoons are being widely distributed. Jeremy Goldkorn, editor of a website that tracks Chinese media, said among China s young, educated and urban, the stodgy network (CCTV) has long been a subject of ridicule, both for its low production values and its propagandistic news coverage..But the fire -- which engulfed what was to be the Mandarin Oriental hotel, a dramatic, angular tower that stands next to the now-iconic CCTV building -- provided a new touchstone for critics, prompting the government to move quickly to mute the outrage. Despite the lack of images on the state media, photographs and videotapes of the fire, taken with cameras and cell phones, swiftly found their way blogs and forums including major portals such as Sina, Sohu, and Youku. Media reported that Chinese citizens on the internet were taking sarcastic and comical pot-shots at CCTV. that people responsible appear to have been CCTV employees; and that the whole subsequent matter of investigating, publicizing, making sense of, and drawing omens from an unignorable spectacle involving the country s leading propaganda/communication outlet and the city s most distinctive new landmark will say a lot about the emotional and political state of China right now. Chinese netizens are busy finding humor in an otherwise tragic situation and spreading Photoshopped images, mostly at CCTV’s expense.