The Beijing neighborhood just north of the CCTV Headquarters project, Hujialou Xili, has gone from brick working class walk-ups to rubble, and now it is rising again into what will no doubt be very high dollar condos with the historically and culturally inappropriate name of Xanadu. I have been wandering around this area since March 2008 taking photos of the CCTV project.

Below are some of my photos taken from the perimeter of the newly rising Xanadu. What the developers did not anticipate when they bought the property was that their "Metropolitan Palace by the National Landmark" would be directly across Chaoyang Lu from the charred carcass of the Television Culture Center (TVCC), the north building of the CCTV complex which spectacularly burned on the night of February 9, 2009 when the CCTV people, in violation of local fire codes, set their own building ablaze with fireworks. It has conspicuously stood for the last eight months in rusting and blackened starkness as the Xanadu management no doubt wonders how they will sell their view to the south. There has been no official word of what will happen to the burned TVCC, though, in the absence of any real news, rumors run rife, from "It will be rebuilt since there was no structural damage," to "It can't be taken down since it is actually a counterweight to it's iconic leaning neighbor (the CCTV Headquarters Bldg.)." It is not surprising that the overwhelming majority of Beijingers harbor no love at all for this work that seems to be eternally in progress.

To read more visit my blog for related entries:
Of Time, Trees and Pleasure Palaces
A Short Eviction Story
CCTV tagged entries