A fire in the city

It's the last day of CNY and while everyone's happily setting off fireworks, in one part of the city firemen are frantically trying to put out a massive blaze on one of Beijing's new iconic skyscrapers. The newly completed building in CCTV's north compound is at this very moment, a blazing inferno. (click to see article) It's gone up in smoke. More accurately, in flames. This new structure was supposed to house the Mandarin Oriental hotel. According to the hotel's website, operations were due to begin later this year but it looks like they'll have to start from scratch again.

We were on our way home from dinner and fireworks at my uncle's house. While setting off the fireworks, we saw scored os fire engines and attributed it to small accidents caused by tonight's pyrotechnics. It was only when Dan and I tried to catch a cab that we realised something was wrong. The road was closed. When we finally caught a cab, we heard on the radio and from Dan's friend there was a fire in the vicinity of the CCTV towers. 

Soon enough, we caught a faint glimpse of it. From more than 1km away, and in between other buildings, we saw a fiery orange glow emanating from a faraway skyscraper. At first it looked like a halo around the building but when we got a clearer look, we realised that the fire enveloped the whole building. There was even flaming debris falling off the sides.

It was a sight that effectively took away the excitement of playing with fireworks. Afterall, it could have been a stray firework that caused this fire. Tonight is meant to be a happy year, a day where you look forward to a promising year, a day when the bright round moon signifies a new and promising start. But tonight's full moon has been blotted out by oily black clouds. There haven't been any reports of casualties and I certainly hope there won't be.