On October 28, 1958, on the west side of Tiananmen Square, a landmark building broke ground, and only ten months later, the magnificent Great Hall of the People was officially unveiled to the world.
When Chairman Mao learned of this, he gladly came to inspect it, and when he saw the magnificent hall, he could not help but nod his head in admiration, and his smile filled the entire Great Hall.
Hall
When he looked up at the ceiling of the Great Hall, he was even more attracted by the scene in front of him, and he would smile: Who designed this? Such a good idea?
So, what exactly is on the ceiling? Why make the president laugh? Who is its designer?
A long-cherished wish 14 years ago
In August 1959, less than two months before the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the National Day, the construction of the Great Hall of the People was also in the final stage, and from time to time, central leaders came to inspect and see the true face of Lushan in the Great Hall.
On August 28, Premier Zhou and Marshal Chen Yi inspected the construction progress of the Great Hall and gave instructions; on September 3, Vice Chairman Liu Shaoqi also came to the Great Hall and looked at it from the inside out.
As the main initiator of the Great Hall of the People, Chairman Mao naturally followed the progress of the construction of this great building. In the 10 months of the construction of the Great Hall, he supervised the whole process, repeatedly asked Peng Zhen, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, to report on the work, and whenever he encountered a major problem, Chairman Mao would personally participate in the discussion.
Therefore, when he learned that the Great Hall was held on September 10, Chairman Mao took time out of his busy schedule and visited the Great Hall of the People with Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yi, and other leaders at 2:30 a.m. on September 9.
During the visit, Chairman Mao couldn't help but nod his head, his face was full of excitement, and he also frequently waved to the workers and showed a satisfied smile.
The reason why the Chairman could not contain his excitement was that his long-cherished wish 14 years ago had finally been fulfilled.
As early as April 23, 1945, the Seventh Congress of the Party was held in Yan'an, and 755 cadres gathered in the Yangjialing Central Auditorium.
Before the Party Central Committee entered Yangjialing, it was just a poor and backward village, there were only more than ten families in the village, and the people had difficulty in living and eating.
At the same time, at that time, the Japanese puppet army burned and plundered our party's base areas, and the Kuomintang authorities were also hostile to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region for a long time, which made life in Yan'an difficult.
After arriving at Yangjialing, Chairman Mao once again put forward the slogan of "do it yourself, have enough food and clothing," and with the efforts of all the Communists and the Eighth Route Army, the problem of diet was quickly solved.
Before the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in order to allow the delegates to sit together, the Party Central Committee decided to build a large auditorium in Yangjialing and entrusted this arduous task to the outstanding architect Yang Zuocai.
Yang Zuocai, a high-caliber student in architecture, presided over the design of many buildings of the Party during the Yan'an period, such as the General Office of the Central Committee and the Auditorium of the Wangjiaping Military Commission.
Yang Zuocai was ordered to actively carry out the construction of the great hall, although there was a shortage of materials at that time, and it was not realistic to want to build a standardized and modern auditorium, but Yang Zuocai still handed in a satisfactory answer.
When the Seventh National Congress of the CPC Central Committee was convened, Mr. Zhu said excitedly: "Today we are finally sitting in the auditorium we built ourselves for a meeting. ”
Yangjialing Auditorium
Although it is a large hall, the situation inside the auditorium in the special period is still very shabby, the tables and chairs are very simple, requiring dim kerosene lamp lighting, the delegates are crowded on long wooden chairs, there is no room to stretch their waists, and some delegates can only stand and listen to the lectures.
Chairman Mao was overwhelmed with emotion when he saw the situation, and he said in a sonorous and powerful voice: "Comrades, our conditions are still very simple, and after the success of the revolution, we must build a large hall that can accommodate 10,000 people, so that everyone can easily sit down." ”
Later, the Party Central Committee held the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee in the Xibaipo Small Auditorium, and Chairman Mao looked at the simple auditorium and was deeply touched in his heart, and his determination to build the Auditorium of Ten Thousand People was even greater.
After the founding of New China, all state departments gathered in Zhongnanhai, making Zhongnanhai very crowded. Then, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress sat here, which made it look compact.
During the First Five-Year Plan, Chairman Mao asked Liu Xiufeng, minister of the Ministry of Construction and Engineering: "With our strength, can we build a large auditorium of ten thousand people?" ”
Liu Xiufeng nodded affirmatively.
However, at that time, the new China was in ruins, and all walks of life in society needed to recover their vitality, and there was no money to build the Great Hall of the People for the time being.
It was not until March 1958 that Chairman Mao, when he held a meeting in Chengdu, mentioned the reconstruction of the city of Beijing and clearly pointed out that the Auditorium of Ten Thousand People should be built as soon as possible.
The Chairman watched the construction plan
At this time, the mainland had completed the first five-year plan ahead of schedule, the country began to become rich, the living standards of the people were greatly improved, and there were sufficient conditions to build a large auditorium.
To this end, soon after, the Beijing Municipal Planning Bureau responded positively, sending people to Moscow to investigate and prepare to build an auditorium that can accommodate 10,000 people.
At the same time, in order to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the central government envisages the construction of a number of major engineering buildings in Beijing, including the "Ten Great Buildings" such as the Ten Thousand People's Auditorium, the History Museum, and the Science and Technology Museum, and needs to be put into use before 1959.
In this way, the construction of the 10,000-person auditorium was proposed as a political task and quickly implemented, and the construction period ended only 10 months later.
It is precisely for this reason that Chairman Mao was so excited to see such a magnificent and majestic building.
However, the construction of the Great Hall of the People is not as easy as imagined, which is enough to describe it as difficult and dangerous.
From the perspective of the world, the construction time of any national landmark building takes several years.
For example, the "Palais des Nations" in Geneva took 8 years; the Sydney Opera House took 14 years to complete; and the United Nations Headquarters building took 7 years.
Not to mention the "top ten buildings", just to build a magnificent and high-quality Great Hall of the People, it takes only ten months to complete it, which is also a fantasy, how did designers and construction engineers overcome the difficulties?
The design is difficult to finalize
According to the instructions of the central authorities, Zhou Enlai served as the commander-in-chief of the "Ten Great Buildings", and Wan Li, then vice mayor of Beijing, was the deputy commander-in-chief.
In September 1958, Wanli deliberately held a meeting to convey the instructions of the Central Committee and asked the comrades to raise the spirit of twelve points and strive to complete it before the celebration of the tenth anniversary.
At the same time, it is also necessary to ensure that the building has Chinese characteristics and can show the art and culture of the Chinese nation.
However, some comrades are worried that with less than 400 days left before the celebration of the tenth anniversary, the planning and preparation of the Great Hall is zero, can it really be completed as scheduled?
"There are always some countries that do not believe that we can build into a modern country, that we cannot do anything, and since this is the case, we must fight for breath and punch them in the face with facts." ”
In order to complete the goal as soon as possible, the Beijing Municipal Party Committee issued an "urgent invitation letter" to gather outstanding architects from all over the country and let everyone come up with suggestions and suggestions to come up with the most ideal plan.
At that time, the scale of the building land of the Great Hall had been determined: 270 meters long and 140 meters wide, and architects and designers could only imagine designs in a space of 37,800 square meters.
However, because the architects had never designed such a huge hall, the idea could not be opened, and the more than 150 design plans originally reported were all brushed off after 7 rounds of selection.
At the same time, more than 30 top architects such as Liang Sicheng and Yang Yanbao also gathered in Beijing to provide solutions for the construction of the City Hall. The solutions that these experts racked their brains and brainstormed were rejected one by one.
As for why, it is also because they still follow the old design ideas for design, they can't open the idea for a long time, and there are great differences about the height of the 10,000-person auditorium, roof design, and site selection.
Until October, the architects still did not come up with a reasonable design plan, and the deputy commander-in-chief Wanli was impatient.
After Premier Zhou learned about it, he put forward the design concept of "China is not ancient, the West is not foreign", that is, the combination of China and the West, learning from each other's strong points.
In the following days, Premier Zhou visited the scene many times to communicate with architectural scholars and give his own suggestions.
He also said: "Thinking cannot be limited, you can mobilize more people, let young architects participate in the design." There are also those organs and units, which can not only review, but also participate in the design. ”
After Premier Zhou's speech, the young designers of the Beijing Municipal Planning Bureau also boldly proposed a design plan with a construction area of 171,800 square meters, which broke the original confinement and referred to the Western-style structure, making the Great Hall appear "convex" in shape.
However, at that time, the largest building in New China was only 50,000 square meters, and the upper limit of the area of the 10,000-person auditorium was 70,000 square meters, and this plan was 100,000 square meters more, more than the sum of the construction area of the Forbidden City. And the construction period should also be extended?
In order to determine the plan as soon as possible, on October 14, Premier Zhou, who had just returned from a business trip from other places, did not care to rest, and brought the design plan sent by all parties to the desk.
Premier Zhou participated in the discussion
Through repeated comparative thinking and consultation with design experts, he finally adopted the 171,800-square-meter design plan of the Planning Bureau.
It turned out that the programme had highlighted the political status of the General Assembly Hall by establishing a central hall where participants could rest and commemorative events could be held. At the same time, the central hall is placed at the intersection of the east-west and north-south axes, making the hall magnificent.
In this set of plans, in addition to paying attention to artistic beauty, it also considers the climate of Beijing and makes lightning protection treatment designs on the top of the building, which are eye-catching.
Ten months to create a miracle
The plan was finally formalized after several modifications. On October 28, only 10 months before the 10th anniversary of the National Day celebration, the construction of the 10,000-person auditorium officially began.
Premier Zhou once said in a serious tone: "The Great Hall of the People is a debt we owe to the people of Beijing!" ”
Why did the Prime Minister say that?
Originally, the Ten Thousand People Hall covered an area of 13.73 hectares and needed to demolish more than 4,000 rooms.
These residents have lived at the foot of the Forbidden City for generations, and once demolished, it means moving from the bustling area to the undeveloped suburbs.
At the beginning, the comrades of the organs were ready to fight a "hard battle", they thought that the demolition would not be so smooth, but they did not want to be so smooth from beginning to end.
The great hall officially began construction
When the people involved in the demolition and relocation heard that the 10,000-person auditorium was to be built, they supported this work and took the initiative to vacate the place. In order to allow the people to have a place to live, the government organs and units have also vacated a large number of rooms.
However, some people have offered to find their own houses in order not to cause trouble for the government. And those residents who live in wealth also provide rooms for difficult demolition households.
It is precisely with the concerted efforts of the citizens of Beijing that the demolition work is progressing rapidly, and the demolition task originally planned for one month was completed in only ten days, providing time for the tense construction period.
On October 28, just after dawn, more than 4,000 people from the construction team of the Great Hall were already in place, and they shoveled the first shovel of soil for the construction of the Great Hall and worked feverishly.
In order to save money to the government, many people heard about the construction of the Great Hall and spontaneously came to the construction site to volunteer work, alleviating the problem of labor shortage.
For example, Zhang Baifa, a steel worker, saw the news of the construction of the great hall in the newspaper and immediately brought his brothers to Beijing to support. A group of craftsmen who paved granite in Fujian, carpenters who did carpentry carving in Hunan... They gathered in Beijing to contribute to the construction of the Great Hall.
Because there are too many workers and cadres involved in labor, they need to queue up to register in the end to enter the construction site.
In order to be able to volunteer labor, many people get up at three or four o'clock in the morning, wait in line, and once they come late, they can't get in.
Because the construction project of the Great Hall is too large, there are more than a hundred construction projects, often the construction personnel work while the designers design, encounter problems on the spot to solve, those engineers are eating and living on the construction site.
However, soon the problem appeared, the construction site was in urgent need of steel reinforcement, the entire construction site was less than a ton of steel reinforcement, once the material problem could not be solved, the construction progress of the project would be affected.
However, at that time, it was a planned economy, and building materials and equipment were uniformly distributed by the state, and if you wanted to distribute more, you needed to apply to your superiors.
Soon Premier Zhou learned of this, and he immediately issued a call for help, asking building materials factories across the country to work overtime to produce steel bars and other building materials.
Various localities have responded, increased the scale of steel production, and timely transported to Beijing. So much so that some of the workers who received the goods said, "These steel bars are still hot!" ”
In December, the Beijing Municipal Party Committee sent a letter to some provinces, hoping that they could support mechanical and electrical, plumbing, ventilation, refrigeration equipment, decorative equipment, metal materials, etc. Although the inventory in various places is not much, in order to ensure the progress of the great hall project, the inventory has been taken out to support.
In order to avoid delaying the quality of the construction schedule, Premier Zhou also stressed to Comrade Wanli many times: "No matter how fast or slow the progress is, we must put the quality problem in the first place, and the structural design and materials of the Great Hall must pay attention to safety." ”
However, Premier Zhou was still not at ease, and he also called a special meeting to repeatedly emphasize the construction quality and material quality of the responsible persons of all links, and set the requirements: "The life of the Great Hall is at least longer than that of the Forbidden City, not less than 350 years." ”
To this end, the Beijing Municipal Government invited liang Sicheng, Mao Yisheng and other famous architects to check the quality of the project. Liang Sicheng and others went deep into the construction site and gave their own suggestions on the safety of the project.
For example, Cai Fangyin, an expert in building structure, believes that according to the existing plan, the beams extend into the wall, which will inevitably affect the overall stiffness of the Hall.
Cai Fangyin's proposal attracted expert discussions and proposed improvements based on the original plan, such as changing the lower roof from 2.7 meters to 3.4 meters to strengthen support; wrapping steel columns with reinforced concrete to improve their stiffness; and if conditions permit, adding a section steel beam to the front of the 2-story pick-up beam.
In this way, with the concerted efforts of everyone, the various problems encountered in the project were overcome one by one.
According to statistics, a total of 300,000 laborers participated in the construction of the Great Hall, and more than 500 factories in 23 provinces overcame difficulties to produce more than 5,000 construction accessories and equipment for the Great Hall.
At the construction site, tens of thousands of construction workers worked day and night and carried out vigorous labor competition activities:
For example, Zhang Baifa's steel worker youth commando team, more than 300 people fought for 9 days and nights to complete the normal construction period of 1 and a half months; Li Ruihuan carpentry youth commando team is responsible for laying the floor, they developed a new type of "cart-type" floor planer, so that the original 45 days of construction period reduced to 8 days to complete.
Peng Zhen inspected the construction site
The crowd gathered firewood and the flame was high, and under the joint efforts of all parties, the project was completed on August 31, 1959, and after acceptance, the 304-day battle finally came to a successful end.
"Whose idea was this?"
On September 9, Chairman Mao, accompanied by Wan Li, Qi Yanming, and others, came to inspect the construction site of the Great Hall, only to see that the buildings inside and outside the auditorium were solemn, dignified and elegant, showing a magnificent and noble spirit.
The hall is 60 meters deep from east to west, 76 meters wide from north to south, and 33 meters high, and its top floor is a dome roof, no column structure, set as a three-story seat, which can accommodate 10,000 people, and the horns are installed on the 2nd and 3rd floors of seats, so there is no need to worry about not hearing the speech.
Although the main body was completed at that time, the details were still in the final stage, and when everyone heard of Chairman Mao's arrival, they put down their work and excitedly gathered around the chairman.
Chairman Mao stopped and shook hands with the workers one by one. After that, the chairman took the elevator to the second floor of the auditorium to pick up the platform, and sat on the seat with great interest to see if he could see the podium clearly and whether the seat was comfortable.
The Chairman was very satisfied and asked the staff: "Can I smoke here?" ”
The staff replied affirmatively: "Of course, this place has been completed, Chairman, are you checking the fire?" ”
Chairman Mao inspects
Everyone laughed when they heard it, and the chairman laughed along with it. Immediately, Chairman Mao took out his cigarette and was about to light it when he noticed the ceiling of the great hall.
I saw that the roof of the auditorium was dome-shaped, connected to the rounded wall, and 500 star lanterns surrounded the five-pointed star lamp like a group of stars. From a distance, the entire dome is inlaid with sunflower sunflower lamps, which are very dazzling.
Obviously, this design is very meaningful, and the five-pointed star lamp and the group lamp reflect each other, symbolizing the party guiding the people of the whole country to the light.
The chairman smiled and said, "This design is very good, whose idea is this?" ”
Seeing the chairman say this, everyone also looked at the ceiling, and everyone was attracted by this "water and sky" layout.
Comrade Wanli hurriedly said: "Chairman, this is Premier Zhou's suggestion, and the designer designed it in principle. ”
Originally, the entire Great Hall was 170,000 square meters, and the Ten Thousand People's Auditorium accounted for nearly half of the area, which could install the entire Tiananmen Tower.
In such a large space, how can all attendees hear clearly, see clearly, have no echo, and not be too depressed?
At that time, the designer Zhang Ling consulted many architectural experts, and everyone thought it was more difficult, after all, the auditorium was 33 meters high, and the space was relatively large, and people standing inside would look small and depressed.
As a building with political symbols, the great hall must not only look magnificent and atmospheric, but also make the people who walk in here feel happy, if it seems depressed here, it is not in line with the original design concept.
In desperation, the designer Zhang Ling had to consult Premier Zhou, and when Premier Zhou learned of his confusion, he also began to think. Once the sense of oppression and emptiness cannot be eliminated, the design of the great hall is flawed after all.
But soon he had an epiphany, and whispered the poem "The sunset and the lone bird fly together, and the autumn water is long and the sky is colorful", and he immediately had an idea.
Premier Zhou said with a smile: "When people stand on the ground, they don't think how high the sky is; standing on the seashore, they don't feel how far the sea is." That being the case, we can't install the lighting in the traditional way, and in order to coordinate the Great Hall, the dome can be designed according to the concept of 'water and sky', so that it can be integrated. ”
Speaking, Premier Zhou was very interested, while sketching with a pen, he explained: the ceiling and wall can be changed to rounded corner transitions, the lighting does not need to be too dazzling, and a milder light cyan can be used, giving people a feeling of endless celestial space, so that there will be no longer a sense of depression.
It was under the inspiration of Premier Zhou that Zhang Ling had the design inspiration to decorate the five-pointed star lamp made of red glass in the center of the dome, and then formed 3 circles of water wave-shaped dark lamp slots around it, echoing the light cyan plastic board of the dome, thus forming the "Starry Sky Roof", and with 500 starry lanterns, it appeared that the ceiling of the Great Hall was magnificent.
Of course, there are also small "star holes" on the dome that are invisible to the naked eye, in fact, they have a sound absorption effect, making the dome a huge sound-absorbing board, which will not produce a rebound, and has a "reverberation" effect, so that participants can hear the speech of the people on the stage no matter where they sit.
Professor Ma Dayu commented: "A series of problems arising from the large space of the Great Hall of the People have been solved by the large space of water and sky, which has created a world miracle. ”
Chairman Mao nodded with satisfaction when he learned that it was Zhou Enlai's idea. He and Premier Zhou have worked together for decades and naturally understand each other's intentions.
The five-pointed star lantern symbolizes the Party Central Committee, the sky full of star lanterns represents the unity of the people of all ethnic groups in China, and the three-layered water wave symbolizes the wave after wave of revolution, under the command and leadership of the party, the country is rich and strong, and the people are happy.
Name the Great Hall of Ten Thousand People
After leaving the second floor to pick up the stage, Chairman Mao rushed to the banquet hall again, where he inquired about the size, height, and number of people in the banquet hall. When he saw the Chinese painting "So Many Delicate Rivers and Mountains" created under the title of "Qinyuan Spring and Snow" hanging here, he stopped, thought about it, and a smile appeared on his face.
Subsequently, Chairman Mao and his party came to the Beijing Hall and sat down to rest.
During the small talk, Chairman Mao said to Wanli humorously: "You are really a thousand miles, traveling thousands of miles a day, and the construction speed is fast, but it took 10 years for the Forbidden City to be initially built!" ”
Wan Li said humbly: "This is the result of more than 20,000 workers working day and night, working diligently and diligently, and the strong support of 23 provinces across the country." ”
As soon as the conversation turned, Wanli said: "Chairman, this project has not been named, I once asked the prime minister what he meant, and he said that he should ask the leader of a country to name it himself." ”
Chairman Mao nodded and asked what his name was. Wanli said: "The workers call it the Great Hall site, so we all call it the Great Hall of People, and some people call it the People's Palace." ”
After pondering, the chairman said: "The 'palace' is a bit feudal, since we are serving the people, let's call it the Great Hall of the People, this is built by the people, it should belong to the people!" ”
After the surrounding staff listened, they all clapped their hands and applauded. In this way, the landmark building, which was built in 10 months, has its own name.
On September 24, all the works in the Great Hall of the People were completed and officially put into use, and six days later Premier Zhou held a reception for the 10th anniversary of the National Day in the Great Hall of the People. At this point, the Great Hall of Ten Thousand people welcomed the first batch of distinguished guests.
At that time, Mei Lanfang was old and rarely performed on stage, but she still insisted on coming to the Great Hall and performed classic national essences such as "Noble Concubine Drunk", which pushed the dinner party to a climax.
In this regard, the Great Hall of the People shoulders the heavy responsibility of the times, has become an important occasion for the mainland's politics and diplomacy, and is also the place where the National People's Congress holds meetings, witnessing countless glorious moments in history.
However, the Great Hall of the People has been heavily guarded for a long time, few people can enter it, ordinary people can only watch from a distance and take pictures, many ordinary people ask: "Is the Great Hall of the People the people?" ”
Some old comrades in the Party were not too satisfied with the long-term closure of the Great Hall and proposed on various occasions that it should be opened to the public.
On January 27, 1979, the Spring Festival Gala was held in the Great Hall of the People, and Comrade Deng Yingchao, then a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, announced to the outside world: "The Great Hall of the People will be open to the public. ”
Everyone was thrilled to hear the news, and everyone wanted to see for themselves how such a magnificent building was built.
On July 15, the Great Hall of the People was officially opened to the public, and its ticket price was 2 cents, and the tourists in line could be described as rubbing shoulders.
Then, tourists from all over the country flocked to the Hall. According to the data, in less than half a year, the Great Hall welcomed 1.3 million visitors.
Since its establishment in 1958, the Great Hall of the People has gone through more than 60 years of ups and downs, showing China's image as a great power in the world, and every Chinese will be proud and honored to come here.