Ashes of Modernity
In what can only be seen as an inauspicious portent for the year to come, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel adjacent to the CCTV Tower in Beijing was gutted by a massive inferno last night just months away from its grand opening. So far a Beijing government spokesperson quoted by Xinhua News Agency is blaming the blaze on “illegal launches of fireworks.” The last day of Lunar New Year celebrations always ends with a chaotic barrage of pyrotechnics around the city. This time, however, the biggest show in town was the burning Mandarin Oriental Hotel backlit by the Year of the Ox’s first full moon.
I have no doubt that heads are going to roll after this fiasco. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel was designed by Rem Koolhaas in conjunction with the even more imposing CCTV Tower. Constructed during the 2008 Summer Olympic development boom, the complex stood for a sleek, modern image of Beijing that the Chinese Communist Party continues to paint for the rest of the world. Now the building will always be remembered for the massive fireball it turned into on Lunar New Years and the resulting charred shell standing in the middle of the Central Business District. In an unlikely turn of events, an old world celebration took down China’s new world order.
For now the Chinese media have been rather tightlipped about the situation. China’s Net Nanny was also on the prowl last night as videos posted to YouTube were temporarily blocked as well as links to articles in foreign media sources. Even local workers setting up food carts for morning commuters at 4AM across the street from the tower had no idea that a fire ravaged the building just hours before. In all, there was a general sense of shock mixed with grim acknowledgment of the highly symbolic nature of the building’s destruction.
Fortunately the Mandarin Oriental Hotel was unoccupied before the blaze, the only reported death being that of a firefighter. For now, the spinners in the Propaganda Bureau are going to have an unenviable task of trying to save as much face as possible both domestically and abroad. This is also a sad moment for me personally, as I remain a huge fan of the CCTV complex design. Now the Mandarin Oriental Hotel will be condemned and suffer the fate of the hutongs and block housing that came before.
Props to Omar for giving me the post title.
February 11th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Nice post. I saw some of the videos online. It’s good to know what it was all about, and that there was only one death. That last photo really puts it into perspective.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:19 am
There is a word for the conversation/discussion that took place in the wee hours of the blaze. It is Blamestorming.
I love the building too, infact, I love the whole complex. It can and will be rebuilt. One must remember that GuGong was struck by lightening on it’s opening. It is now one of the principle tourist draws of Beijing.
Art lives!
I also think yours is a needed post. Thanks Mi You.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I don’t understand the opening line now how this could be an “inauspicious portent” of things to come. China’s future actually looks fairly bright compared to the west, with it’s projected growth rate close to double digits, and it’s huge Financial reserves backed in U.S. Treasuries, and as to the suspicion that it may have been a terrorist act, that’s yet to be seen. I don’t understand how this could be seen as anything but a catastrophic fire caused during the festival in which the fireworks are at it’s brightest. You should see the way people here light the fireworks. In my apartment complex I saw a huge amount of fireworks hitting the buildings. People light them so close and when they shoot up, sometimes they actually hit the buildings or explode right next to them. It’s no surprise firefighters are so busy that night.
Besides, the Chinese are so good at rebuilding, it will take no more than 6 months (heck! maybe even 3) to rebuild the place and keep things moving as if nothing happened. Don’t underestimate the ability of their Central Government.
As for the Chinese media being “tightlipped” about the situation, I think you should check your sources. In fact, it’s been all over the news for the past few days here. The ming gong (labor workers) who were interviewed and didn’t know about it, probably don’t watch the news, nor read newspapers, OR, since they have to wake up at 4am to go to work had slept through the fire, they just didn’t know, so that barely serves as proof of the point that the media was being “tightlipped.” It doesn’t seem fair to say that because a few people didn’t know, then that means the media is not talking about it.
Anyways, it was a catstrophic fire, and luckily not many people were hurt or killed. Thanks for the photos though, and for the link to the youtube video.
February 11th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Marc: The Mandarin Oriental Hotel burning down being an inauspicious portent has nothing to do with the fact that China will continue to experience high levels of growth in the coming year and still sits on large capital reserves. What makes it inauspicious is that it occurred on the last day of Spring Festival/the first full moon of the new year. I am merely riffing on superstitious beliefs held by many in the Beijing. Also, it is definitely going to take more than six months to rebuild the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It is not your normal brick and mortar structure.
As for the “tightlipped” comment, I was not only referring to laborers, but also the blocking of videos and other blog postings. The Chinese media continues to downplay the events and close online discussion forums concerning the tragedy. I do not think they are stupid enough to try to pull a complete cover up, too many people witnessed the blaze, but they are doing their best to silence the issue and avoid further embarrassment. You should also check out Andrew Jacobs followup article in today’s NY Times:
“A directive sent out by propaganda officials, which found its way to the Internet after it was leaked, made it clear that the authorities were eager to reduce public attention to the blaze, a colossal embarrassment that many people believe augurs poorly for the new year. ‘No photos, no video clips, no in-depth reports,’ read the memo, which instructed all media outlets to use only Xinhua dispatches. ‘The news should be put on news areas only, and the comments posting areas should be closed.’”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/world/asia/11beijing.html
Thanks for the comment, but I still stand by my original post.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
hey thanks for the updated post on the news story by NY times. I think if you try to report an event and seem unbiased and journalistic it is a good idea to include such information as the causes of the fire as well as the reason for the coverup (quoting the NY times article, or at least putting a link to the article)
Now that you’ve cleared those posts up, I’m more aware of the situation, and thus can retract my comments. The reason for their being “tightlipped” can be understood since it was the CCTV illegal fireworks display that caused the fire in the first place. Of course it’s an embarrassing situation. I was not aware of the cause and thus suspected it might have been terrorism, etc etc.
Anyways, also thanks for clarifying the superstitious comments which I had misunderstood to mean that possible terrorist threats would loom this year.
Anyways cya.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
When I wrote the blog post the morning after the fire the causes where still unknown. That’s why I only quoted the Xinhua News Agency. Plus, I never said there was a cover up, but rather they were trying to downplay the scale of the disaster and suppress commentary and videos. Anyway, as you mentioned, it is now clear that the tower was set ablaze by fireworks. You can actually see it catch on fire with this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP50yddytzs
April 27th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
My appreciation for structure and form extends from inspiration to materials, motivation to image. I love construction and Real Estate and I experinced epic sadness when I heard of the blaze. To me, the beauty of real estate is the enduring story that it tells ( empire state building, 30 St Mary Axe, 101 California St…….. ). Of all that could be imagined at its inception, I never would have thought that this would be its fate? Sad. To tear down and rebuild ( as China always does ) just wont fill the void of an architectural idea executed at a financial point in time, with such a cultural purpose.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
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July 9th, 2010 at 6:16 am
It sounds like you’re creating problems yourself by trying to solve this issue instead of seeking at why their constantly a problem in precise first location