the CCTV conflagration
Two nights ago was the end of the Spring festival in China, at the celebration called the “Lantern Festival” where people let off their final blammo of fireworks, Beijing’s new pride and joy — the new symbolic CCTV tower by Rem Koolhaas/OMA — was engulfed in flames! It was an incredible fire, in a few hours it made a shell of the production studios, the Mandarin Oriental hotel, that was in the adjunct building next to the more symbolic “Mobius strip”. With an estimated 5 billion in losses–so much for this vanity project of the government propaganda machine!
What is the estimated cause? (Aside from these battling felines of good and evil?): “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, which is part of the iconic CCTV tower complex, said Luo Yuan, spokesman and deputy chief of Beijing Fire Control Bureau.”
“… these fireworks were much more powerful and explosive than what was available at roadside stalls during the Spring Festival and therefore needed approval from the municipal government before being allowed in the downtown areas.”
“Owners of the property ignored police warnings that such fireworks were not allowed.” from the China Daily: CCTV Hotel Fire Caused By Fireworks
This year marked only the fourth year that they were allowed after a more than 10 year prohibition. See more doctored images at Mop.com
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