The old office building of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, one of the landmarks of Beijing in the 1950s, was successfully demolished with dynamite at 1:00 a.m. Tuesday.

The explosion lasted only less than 10 seconds. Traffic in the surrounding area had been sealed off since 23:00 Monday night. Residents near the site had been evacuated before the explosion. No one was reported hurt.

Built in 1955, the building has eight floors above ground and one floor underground. In 1976, it was somewhat affected by a strong earthquake which killed over 270,000 people in north China, according to officials in charge of the project.

The demolish work was postponed to September from May, when severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out in Beijing.

Relevant departments have been urging the demolish since an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale jolted the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China on August 16.

A 25-floor and 98-meter-high new office building for the federation will be erected on the same site in two and half years, said the sources.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2003)