The old office building of the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions, one of the landmarks of Beijing in the 1950s, was
successfully demolished with dynamite at 1:00 a.m. Tuesday.
The explosion lasted only less than 10 seconds. Traffic in the
surrounding area had been sealed off since 23:00 Monday night.
Residents near the site had been evacuated before the explosion. No
one was reported hurt.
Built in 1955, the building has eight floors above ground and
one floor underground. In 1976, it was somewhat affected by a
strong earthquake which killed over 270,000 people in north China,
according to officials in charge of the project.
The demolish work was postponed to September from May, when
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out in Beijing.
Relevant departments have been urging the demolish since an
earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale jolted the Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China on August 16.
A 25-floor and 98-meter-high new office building for the
federation will be erected on the same site in two and half years,
said the sources.
(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2003)