Great Hall of the People
3 min readThe Great Hall of the People is located on the west side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It is not only the venue of the highest authority (the National People’s Congress), but also the place where Chinese leaders handle off cial affairs, meet foreign friends and hold grand banquets. The magnif cent and lar ge-scale Great Hall of the People was built in 1959. It covers 15 hectares with total area of about 170,000 square meters. It consists of 10,000-person assembly hall, banquet hall and office building. Its shape is based on symmetry structure of the Western classical architecture. Eaves and other local parts see the decoration in traditional Chinese style. Main entrance opposite to one side of Tiananmen Square is the visual center of the entire exterior of the building.
Column veranda is the most characteristic part in the appearance of the Great Hall of the People. Central wall surface is 111 meters wide. Entrance column veranda has 1 1 openings, and there are 12 light grey round columns made of marble. These stone columns have diameter of 2 meters and height of 25 meters. Alone column base in magneta color has height of over 2 meters. Column head adopts traditional pattern of lotus and curly grass. The width of openings descends from the middle to both sides, which is similar to the feature of ancient Chinese column veranda. Against the backdrop of wide and towering stairs, the whole front veranda seems magnif cent.
10,000-person assembly hall is the center of the entire building, with width of 76 meters, height of 32 meters and depth of 60 meters. The interior roof shape is unique, which is handled in clever and scientific manner. Wall body and roof are linked with rounded corner, which is seamless. Roof center sees a r e d p e n t a g o n a l s t a r surrounded by the golden halo. 1,000 ceiling lamps are lit as the bright stars, which present a splendid sight. It symbolizes the people of all nationalities unite as one, join hand, usher in the bright future, and march towards the victory.
This is Beijing Hall. Meeting halls in office building are named after all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to symbolize unity and solidarity of China. These meeting halls adopt regional excellent artistic techniques of various ethnic groups to decorate indoor scenes.
Architecture of the New China
The dominant architecture style of the early New China always changed. At f rst, modernist architecture style was popular, and later “combination of the Chinese and Western elements” was advocated. During the “Cultural Revolution” period, architectural art was neglected and trampled. With the development of China, after the reform and opening up, outstanding architectural works with modern style and era feature spring up like mushrooms.
Top Ten Constructions
“Top Ten Constructions” refer to 10 key buildings which were completed in 1959 as a tribute to the 10th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, i.e., the Great Hall of the People, the Museum of the Chinese Revolution, Military Revolutionary Museum of Chinese People, National Agricultural Exhibition Center, Beijing Railway Station, Workers’ Stadium, the Cultural Palace of the Nationalities, Minzu Hotel Beijing, the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse and the Overseas Chinese Mansion. These buildings boast proportional ratio and various styles, which reflect the ethnic traditional characteristics in varying degrees.
