The Great Hall of the People in Beijing was built in August 1959,
Every year, the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference are held here.
It is also an important place for the Party, the State and various people's organizations to hold political activities.
However, on the day of the banquet for the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1959,
But 50 men dressed in black in cotton jackets lurk above the ceiling?
Who are these people? What are their purposes?
To explain this "weird behavior" mentioned at the beginning,
And turn the clock back to the end of 1956,
At that time, New China had just completed its first five-year plan.
The life and spiritual outlook of the people in the capital have been greatly mentioned,
However, at that time, Beijing did not have a large parliamentary venue that could accommodate many people.
Many times the meetings of the State Council and the Party Central Committee are held in batches.
It is often not conducive to the central government's transmission of instructions and local levels to come to Beijing for deliberations.
The construction of a large auditorium of 10,000 people became an important matter for Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou.
In July 1958, the Beijing Municipal Planning Bureau went to Moscow to investigate.
The goal is to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1959.
Build a large auditorium for the party, the country, and the people,
The time came to September about the design of the auditorium, gradually becoming clear,
Under the instructions of Premier Zhou,
Many young architects are involved,
After nearly a month of discussion and changes,
A total of eight sets of plans were released, and finally after being submitted to Premier Zhou,
Full exchange of views with those who were here at that time,
In the end, the beijing municipal planning bureau's plan was selected.
"The sunset and the lone bird fly together, and the autumn water is long and colorful" This was the design inspiration proposed by the prime minister at that time.
Today's Great Hall has a huge indoor space with a clear height of 33 meters.
Especially the well-known 10,000-person auditorium,
Adopt a column-free structure with three-tier seats,
The huge red five-pointed star lamp at the top became the symbol of the interior of the Great Hall of the People.
But from October 26, 1958, when the final draft was completed,
In order to complete it before the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there is not much time left for the builders of the capital.
However, it only took about 280 days.
With the close cooperation of construction workers and the masses of the people,
on the completion of the main project,
At its peak, nearly 15,000 people were involved in the construction of the site.
On September 9, 1959, Wan Li, then secretary of the Secretariat of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and vice mayor, was appointed
Accompanied by Zhang Hongshun, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Construction Bureau,
Chairman Mao came to inspect the interior of the Great Hall,
When asked what the name of this auditorium should be,
He said: "Many comrades work so hard for the sake of fame and profit ... Let's call it the Great Hall of the People."
With the approaching of the Eleventh National Day in 1959,
At that time, dignitaries from more than 80 countries and regions around the world will come to Beijing to attend the banquet for the tenth anniversary.
The finishing work of the interior decoration of the Great Hall of the People is also underway.
Finally officially delivered on September 24,
The state banquet on the evening of September 30 was immediately confirmed to be held in the banquet hall of the Great Hall of the People.
However, at this moment, Zheng Lianfu, the general person in charge of this state banquet,
However, he received a message that shocked him.
Zheng Lianfu is mainly responsible for the scene layout and dish delivery of the evening,
But he did not expect that the Great Hall of the People, which had just been renovated, had a huge security risk.
What's going on here?
On the afternoon of September 30, 1959,
Guests from all over the world and overseas Chinese who came to Beijing to attend the dinner for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China,
Prepare to go to the Great Hall of the People,
Even the plane of Khrushchev, the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, who had just gone to the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly, had arrived in Beijing.
Everything is ready, just wait for the dinner party to start.
Zheng Lianfu suddenly received instructions from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau,
Asked him to come over, Zheng Lianfu was very confused at first,
But when he got to the Public Security Bureau,
I was startled by the questions of the police comrades of the Beijing Municipal Bureau,
The Beijing Municipal Bureau's proposal was that "can the state banquet be held in another place?" ”
And the reason for this proposal,
It was because in the security assessment of the Ministry of Public Security on the same day,
It is believed that the banquet ceiling uses too much wooden structure,
There are also complex circuit arrangements inside, which are very easy to cause fire accidents.
Not afraid of ten thousand, just in case, so that this founding banquet can be held safely,
That was why a request for relocation was made.
After Zheng Lianfu heard it, he looked at the time on his wrist,
At this time, it was less than 6 hours before the evening banquet,
At this time, it is impossible to change the address of the banquet,
But the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau's consideration also makes sense.
The safety of the banquet must be guaranteed.
The image comes from the Internet
And this news also reached Liu Ren, the second secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee.
He immediately contacted Shen Bo of the Beijing Architectural Design Institute.
And Shen Bo, who was eating lunch, also hurried to Secretary Liu's office.
Secretary Liu questioned Shen Bo at the right point,
Why is the Great Hall of the People unsafe.
The image comes from the Internet
After Shen Bo heard this, he was directly confused,
Only then did I learn about the security report of the Beijing Municipal Bureau.
Shen Bo elaborated on the details of the ceiling design,
Although it is a wooden structure, the fire source and wires inside are pierced with iron pipes.
Fire fighting measures were taken around the iron pipes.
But in order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, Shen Bo and his leader Zhang Hongshun came up with a brilliant solution.
Shen Bo and Zhang Hongshun carefully discussed the possible unexpected situation,
and countermeasures,
They believe that the most likely safety hazard is the wire joint,
"Manual" monitoring can be used,
Arrange experienced workers to guard the three-story hall in the northwest corner of the banquet hall,
And arrange for them to go with their cotton jackets,
In order to encounter an electric fire accident,
Can be immediately extinguished above, reducing the expansion of the danger,
And notify the power supply office to pull the brake power off,
And in order to control the ceiling of the entire banquet hall,
Under the organization of Zheng Lianfu, the general manager of the dinner,
50 workers were urgently found.
They will be responsible for the most important "security work" of the whole dinner,
This brings us to the opening scene, where we mention the presence of many men in black on the ceiling of the 10th anniversary dinner.
As night falls, the Great Hall of the People Ballroom,
50 workers with cotton jackets assembled,
In order not to attract attention, they uniformly changed into black clothes,
Many of these workers have not eaten a bite of dinner,
When he learned of the mission, he rushed to the banquet hall,
Shen Bo, Zhang Hongshun and Zheng Lianfu stayed in the banquet hall to observe the situation overhead.
The image comes from the Internet
The time came to 7 o'clock, with Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou and other party and state leaders,
as well as guests from all over the world participating in the banquet,
The dinner party for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China also officially began,
At this moment, there was also a small episode, which made Shen Bo more vigilant about the situation above the ceiling.
Just before the leaders and guests entered the venue,
A service worker accidentally fell, and the tableware in his hand was broken on the ground.
The banquet has not yet officially begun,
This vignette did not affect the lively atmosphere of the evening.
The image comes from the Internet
And during Premier Zhou's speech and Soviet leader Khrushchev's speech,
Shen Bo and Zhang Hongshun were still observing the situation overhead,
They didn't even hear anything on the stage.
The image comes from the Internet
The banquet that night went very smoothly, and the worries did not arise.
Until the hall is dispersed,
All the people in charge of this "cotton clothing defense war" breathed a sigh of relief.
The Great Hall of the People has never had any major safety accidents since then.
The broad masses of the working people, with their sweat and wisdom,
To create this great hall of extraordinary significance for the people of Chinese,
It also carries the people's expectations of the country and the nation.