 | This article may be excessively based on contemporary reporting. (March 2024) |
 The 44-story TVCC building in flames (right); the CCTV Headquarters (left) | |
| Date | 9 February 2009 |
|---|---|
| Time | 8:27 p.m. |
| Location | Beijing |
| Also known as | TVCC fire |
| Participants | CCTV |
| Outcome | Severely damaged by fire |
| Deaths | 1 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 7 |
The Beijing Television Cultural Center fire was an urban conflagration on 9 February 2009, in the Beijing central business district of Beijing, involving the uncompleted Beijing Television Cultural Center (TVCC) building. The building was adjacent to the CCTV Headquarters and owned by China Central Television (CCTV), and scheduled for completion in May 2009. The TVCC has been rebuilt and was opened in 2012.
At 8:27 p.m. on 9 February 2009, on the last day of the festivities marking Chinese New Year, the entire building caught fire due to a nearby unsanctioned fireworks display; it was put out six hours later.[1]
The incident, and its coverage by Chinese state media, caused a furor in China. CCTV officials had carried out powerful pyrotechnics without the required permit from local government, and ignored repeated police warnings not to hold them. The authorities' attempts to censor news of the blaze were widely denounced by citizens as well as the international press.
- ^ Andrew Jacobs, Fire Ravages Renowned Building in Beijing Archived 12 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, 9 February 2009