Original Title: The Workers Stadium, regarded as one of the important sports landmarks in Beijing, unveiled its new outfit, drawing attention from the outside world to the famous stadium—(Quotation)
It is not easy to become a sports landmark (theme)
Workers’ Daily—China Industry Net reporter Li Yuanhao
Beijing “Xingongti” under the winter sun.Workers’ Daily—Photographed by China Industry Net reporter Wu Fan
From the East Second Ring Road, East Sishitiao Bridge, to the east of the island, you can see an oval stadium shortly after driving along Gongti North Road. This is the Beijing Workers Stadium that has left a deep impression on the hearts of countless Chinese people (below referred to as Workers). After more than two years of renovation and reconstruction, the main project of the football field of the Workers’ Stadium has been completed, and the first professional football field in Beijing has recently been unveiled.
A reporter from Workers’ Daily learned from the Beijing Municipal Major Projects Office that the renovation and reconstruction project of the industrial sports complex will continue to improve the surrounding environment and commercial supporting construction, and is expected to be completed by the end of March this year. At that time, Gongti, which has always been regarded as one of the most important sports landmarks in the capital, will make a brilliant return.
“New Worker’s Body” is about to emerge
As the most recognizable landmark buildings or regions in each city or region, landmarks can always fully reflect the development background, social features and construction achievements of the city (region). Among the many landmarks, sports landmarks with stadiums as the main body have always occupied an important position in the minds of sports fans and even ordinary people.
Take the Workers’ Stadium built in 1959 as an example. As one of the gift projects for the 10th anniversary of the founding of New China, it has hosted the first to fourth National Games, the 1990 Asian Games, the 2001 World University Games, and the 2004 World University Games. Many domestic and foreign competitions, such as the Asian Cup football match and the 2008 Olympic football match, carry countless good memories of new China’s competitive sports and national fitness.
“Gongti is not only a stadium in my mind, but also a good memory of me, Guoan, and Beijing football, and even represents my youth…” Huang Chao, a Beijing fan who has watched football in Gongti for more than ten years, told reporter. Now seeing that the newly renovated Gongti is about to “return”, Huang Chao and his friends have begun to look forward to returning here in the new season to cheer for their beloved Guoan.
It is precisely because of this unique and profound emotion that it is not easy to rebuild a sports landmark like Gongti.
“Since the start of the reconstruction and restoration project of the Gongti, how the ‘New Gongti’ retains the memories and urban feelings of the Chinese people, and continues to bring the touch and beauty to the public has always been one of the focuses of the outside world,” said the general manager of the Beijing Gongti Reconstruction Project. Designer Juniper said in an interview.
For this reason, the design concept of “New Gongti” is determined as “traditional appearance, modern venues” – “traditional appearance” is reflected in maintaining the original oval shape of the work body, the form and proportion of the facade, and the “three constants” of characteristic elements At the same time, it protects and restores important elements such as sculptures and architectural decoration components in the early stage of the construction of the stadium; the “modern stadium” is designed and constructed in full compliance with FIFA’s standards for professional football fields, and many modern technological facilities have been added.
good memory
Not only Gongti, not only Beijing, but other cities in China are no exception for the good memory and deep emotion of sports landmarks.
Dong Liangtian, who was a player of the Guangdong Workers’ Football Team in the 1960s and later served as the director of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, said in an interview: “The history of modern sports development in Guangdong and Guangzhou is closely related to the city of Guangzhou. Inseparable.” He said frankly that sports play a huge role in the urban construction of Guangzhou.
For example, the Dongjiaochang (now the People’s Stadium of Guangdong Province), which was built in 1906, marked the beginning of modern sports in Guangdong and even the whole country. The construction of Tianhe Stadium in the 1980s and the holding of the Sixth National Games greatly promoted the leapfrog development of sports in Guangdong, and also promoted Tianhe District to become the most prosperous central area in Yangcheng today.
In addition to Beijing and Guangzhou, Hongkou Stadium in Shanghai, Minyuan Stadium in Tianjin, Datianwan Stadium in Chongqing, and Xinhua Road Stadium in Wuhan are also indelible puzzles in the history of sports development in their respective cities.
Looking abroad, there are also many sports landmarks with great historical background and many classic moments.
Founded in 1923 and rebuilt in 2000, the British Wembley Stadium is regarded as a symbol of English football. It once witnessed the glory of the England team in the 1966 World Cup; the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was built In 1948, it was once known as the world‘s largest football stadium with a capacity of 200,000 spectators. The Remet Cup, which was permanently retained after the Brazilian team won the World Cup three times, is stored here; The largest stadium in Europe has witnessed the highlights of countless stars such as Maradona, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Messi; of course, there are also the Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, and the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris, France…
Sustainability is still an issue
Although it has a glorious history and many fans, the sustainable development of sports landmarks, especially traditional sports landmarks, is not all smooth sailing. Even a world-renowned sports landmark such as the Maracanã Stadium, after successively hosting the 2014 Brazil World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics, once fell into the embarrassment of outdated facilities and difficult venue operation.
“Whether the construction and layout of sports venues can be organically combined with its sustainable development is an important symbol to test whether a region’s sports development can be integrated into social development.” President of Capital Institute of Physical Education, Sustainability of Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics Zhong Bingshu, a member of the Advisory and Construction Committee, thought in an interview.
In Zhong Bingshu’s view, while the venues for large-scale sports events are constantly being built and improved, many auxiliary supporting venues or facilities for holding small-scale sports events should be built around them, so as to form an organic combination of large and small venues and facilities. “The comprehensive utilization of sports facilities must not only attract branded events, but also turn it into a training base, a sports check-in place, and a sports and leisure resort, so that it is possible to attract more people and form sustainable development.”
In terms of the sustainable development of complex operations, many sports landmarks have been making active attempts in recent years, such as transforming into sports consumption complexes with stadiums as the core.
For this reason, in the process of reconstruction and reconstruction, Gongti has also determined the general idea of building a comprehensive consumption carrier with sports venues as the core. It is reported that “Xingongti” will be combined with an urban sports park covering an area of about 100,000 square meters and a lake area of 30,000 square meters to create an open urban sports park, forming a collection of events, sports parks, shopping, and public transportation systems. The streamline of cultural and sports consumption will help cultivate the sports consumption economy and achieve sustainable development.