Mandarin Oriental Beijing on Fire

On my way home from work this evening, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The building right next to the CCTV tower was ablazed. I live really close to the iconic landmark and am still in disbelief at what happened. It’s the 15th day of the lunar new year and the last day people could uncontrollably set off firecrackers and fireworks. While the building was burning, people were still setting off fireworks in the vicinity. My neighbour sets of fireworks from their balcony and also from their windows. I’ve been indoctrinated with rules and safety regulations since childhood coming from the land of punishment, and I’m stunned by how callous people are here.

The Mandarin Oriental housed in the burning building was just set to open in a few months… The trousers part of the CCTV Tower (not to be confused with the TVCC tower next to it) remains unscathed thankfully. Here is a picture I took of the building that was ablaze, right next to the trousers.

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I was too in shock to capture anymore than 5 seconds on video. Being the sterile Singaporean I am, I walked away because I didn’t know what else to do. I’m still in disbelief.


Mandarin Oriental Beijing from Juliana Loh on Vimeo.

More on what the netizens are saying, here

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