After seven or eight years in business, the Beijing Music Hall had become a holy place for most music lovers. Right here, countless musical performances have been under the spotlight; numerous prestigious musicians from home and abroad had been here to present the beauty of their seasoned techniques; and many country leaders had come here to enjoy marvelous performances. Nevertheless, after several temporary closures, this special place which mainly featured classical and serious music finally closed for good on March 29 of this year.

Many things contributed to the closing of the Music Hall, but the direct reason lay in non-conformance to fire prevention standards, according to Qian Cheng, general manager of Beijing Music Hall.

Beijing Music Hall is attached to China Symphony Orchestra whose predecessor was the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China. Built in 1985, the Music Hall is a white and rectangular-shaped construction based on black marble. Located in the south of Beijing’s Chang’an avenue, with elegant style and dignified sculpt, the Beijing Music Hall can accommodate an audience of some 1,140. By including a series of modern acoustics measures into its construction, the hall was blessed with very good sounding quality, a special feature of frequency, moderate reverberation, and average distribution of sound field. Meanwhile, the music hall was the first modern performing place especially designed for musical performances. It accommodated a symphony of 100 members and a chorus of more than 100 people.

According to sources, Beijing Music Hall was built a long time ago without a high-quality fire-protection system or a good fire-control design. After a new law on fire-control was issued and took effect in 1986, Beijing Music Hall failed to be improved with necessary fire-control equipment, leaving hidden trouble for its managers.

On January 5, Beijing Music Hall was sanctioned by the Xicheng Fire-Control Supervision Department of Beijing Fire-control Bureau because its fire-control systems were not up to standard. The next day, the music hall was forced to stop its business.

Under the supervision of the concerned fire-control management department, Beijing Music Hall invested 600,000 yuan (US$72,463.76) in its fire-control project starting January 15. And Beijing Zhongxiao Weiye Security Technological Engineering Cooperation, Ltd. was mainly responsible for this big task.

It is known that during the first half of February, the alarm system aided by infrared rays, central control system and the broadcasting system with live commanding were all installed and debugged in the music hall, ending the 16 years’ absence of a fire-control alarm system within the Beijing Music Hall. At the same time, the soft-material packaged wall materials that did not pass quality inspection were replaced with fire-resistant plaster materials. In terms of the circuit and electrical equipment of the music hall, these also went a thorough investigation and check-out. All of these measures greatly enhanced music hall’s fire safety.

According to the authorities, financial difficulties as well as the music hall’s original construction design and the municipal management network’s limitation prevented the revamping and improvement of the music hall’s hydrant system and the establishment of a sprinkler system. Firstly, nearby the music hall, the water volume and pressure within the municipal management network don’t meet the necessary standards. Also, at the original phase of its construction, the Beijing Music Hall didn’t incorporate fire-prevention design into its blueprint, yet the water system’s revamping has to be related to many aspects of the original construction, especially in the case of the building’s weight-bearing structure design at the top. After all, to find a good place for a water tank of over several tens of tons is by no means an easy job. Many such problems arose in the process of the renovations. At the same time, this also shows that fire-control renovation projects cannot be completed within a short period of time.

The previous booming Beijing Music Hall with its frequent performances has now become quiet and deserted. A music fan from Fujian Province who came to Beijing with high expectations finally had to leave the city with much disappointment. “It’s a great pity that the music hall had to be closed. It was not just a performing place; it represented a kind of music, and was a kind of immeasurable music resource. Every effort should be made to see such waste does not happen in the future,” he said.

(新华社 [Xinhua News Agency], translated by Feng Shu for china.org.cn on May 24, 2002)