Monday 22nd April, 2013.
The 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Běijīng were, among other things, China’s long-awaited opportunity to welcome the world and show off her astonishing progress. Dozens of architectural showpieces which sprang up in conjunction with China’s booming economy over the previous half-decade have succeeded in transforming the city’s skyline. See http://weburbanist.com/2011/10/30/enter-the-dragon-building-beijing-chinas-pangu-plaza/
From the bus window we glimpsed a few of these “architectural showpieces” on our way to the Bird’s Nest.
The Pangu Plaza complex is one of the architectural wonders reshaping Běijīng’s increasingly Dubai-esque skyline, a product of architects eager to make their mark and city planners happily throwing cash their way. (from http://weburbanist.com/2011/10/30/enter-the-dragon-building-beijing-chinas-pangu-plaza/)
Although this building is in the vicinity of the Olympic Village, and has been likened to an Olympic torch crowned with a windblown, leaping flame, it is actually not related to the Olympic Village at all. The building is the tallest of five towers, connected to each other at the third floor, so that the tallest building represents a dragon’s head, and the other buildings represent its undulating body. Picture from http://weburbanist.com/2011/10/30/enter-the-dragon-building-beijing-chinas-pangu-plaza/
The “dragon’s head” building is the Pangu 7 Star Hotel, one of the world’s only two 7-star hotels. It also boasts China’s largest LED screen.
Our view of the Běijīng National Stadium, nicknamed the Bird’s Nest, was described in the tour itinerary as a “brief photo stop” and it fulfilled that description perfectly. The bus pulled up beside an overpass on the side of a busy highway and we were shepherded onto the overpass with a warning to be quick or the driver would be given a ticket.
So here, from the overpass, is a glimpse of the Bird’s Nest. And this is taken with my zoom lens too!
Empty Nest:
New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote at the time (of the Olympics): "Its elliptical latticework shell, which has earned it the nickname the Bird's Nest, has an intoxicating beauty that lingers in the imagination. Its allure is only likely to deepen once the enormous crowds disperse and the Olympic Games fade into memory."
Time has not, in fact, been so kind. These days, the Birds Nest is a mostly empty "museum piece." The stadium, which cost $480 million dollars to build and takes about $11 million each year to maintain, has no regular tenant…..Today, it's a Segway race track where tourists can pay $20 to zip around - not exactly an Olympic sport. (From http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/empty-nest-beijings-olympic-stadium-is-a-vacant-museum-piece/260522/)
The nearby Olympic Aquatics Centre (the Water Cube) has only been slightly more fortunate: it's been turned into a water park. (From http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/empty-nest-beijings-olympic-stadium-is-a-vacant-museum-piece/260522/)
Walking back across the overpass.
One last glimpse.
The other side of the overpass where the bus was waiting for us (we didn’t get a ticket) looked like another era.
I think this is a better shot of the Bird’s Nest, taken from the bus window a bit further down the road.
Tourists going to the Olympic Village (perhaps to ride Segways?)
One of my favourite pictures of China.
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