Guess what's happening in China? Beijing's CCTV headquarters, the Rem Koolhaas building, is at a major fire risk. Fireworks, from the last day of New Years celebrations here, could be the culprits. Updated



The China Central Television headquarters is a 6.45 million square foot complex that involves twin leaning towers connected by two massive sections in midair. It's an amazing feat of engineering, but everyone in Beijing is now worried that it might collapse if the building directly next to it, right now said to be the incompleted Mandarin Oriental hotel, isn't put out quickly (It's been on fire for a good three hours now).

Right now it's the Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the first month of the new year on the Chinese calendar, and quite inauspiciously, one of the most important landmarks of new Communist China and the message it's trying to portray – is this close to getting obliterated.

Probably not surprisingly, I can't find any news of this on local Chinese television (though some channels over here in Shanghai are mysteriously silent). Rather, I'm relying on blogs and Chinese twitter feeds for updates. [Shanghaiist]

The video shows the building burning from the first moments after the fire broke out.