Among all of the shops on Nanluoguxiang, NLGX was chosen by the local Jiaodaokou government bureau to be the first test case of a centralized fire safety system, which includes water sprinklers and a smoke detector! The piping and equipment was installed over the weekend and yesterday was the ceremonial “first sprinkling”, attended by local government officials, army officials, police, media, and of course, us!
It was a raucous morning over at NLGX yesterday, which included turning on the newly installed sprinklers for 30 seconds, a hutong fire brigade of 3 electric-powered tricycles, and no less than 8 hutong firemen strapped in full fire fighting gear. It was a glorious scene to behold, and we have it all recorded on picture and video form!
Check out some of the pictures below! We’ll upload the video as well for your view pleasure! Also, if you see any trace of this fire system test and our shop in other media outlets, please let us know and leave us a message in the comments! Thanks!
Today, we finished all major shop renovations and it was time to install our lighted NLGX signs out front! Here is a picture of our workers installing the lights and turning them on for the first time! LIGHTS ON!!!
We are finally at the last stage of major shop renovations - the concrete floor. Because of the sub-zero temperatures, it will take the next few days for the concrete to set. Once we can enter to store again, the final touches will be made to the staircase, the coffee bar, and the backroom. Lighting will be installed as well.
We’re almost there! … also it was interesting to watch them mix the concrete by hand and shovel it into every nook and cranny on the shop floor. There was no concrete truck or even a concrete mixer. All manual. All hutong style.
Had a very productive weekend as there has been tons of construction. We removed the old wall that was in front of the shop. I dunno how they’re surviving this -10 C. So the front wall needed to be destroyed. In this process while we were standing in the backroom. Then we heard a huge THUD/Crash/Bam. During that split second we were scared to think that it was some sort of crash from our wall. From our view we saw the door that was at the front fell down on to the street. The very same street where cars drive by, and old men on three wheeled bicycles tow their loved ones sitting in the “emperor” seat. Just before it fell, Ed said he saw a bicyclist ride by- almost getting hit. Thank some sort of Hutong God that no BMWs or people were harmed in the process.
Today was the first day of snow in Beijing this year! However, as nice as snow in the hutong can look, for our workers the below freezing temperature is more than just an inconvenience. Mortar on our newly laid bricks, paste and paint on the walls are taking much longer to set than planned. As temperatures have hovered between -2C and -10C since Monday, our workers have had to bring in reinforcements to battle the winter chill.
In the case of NLGX Construction Project 2008, ‘hutong charcoal’ has been brought in help dry (and set) the new furnishings, and baijiu is used warm up the body after an honest day’s work =). That’s true Beijing hutong style for ya!
Published by Ed on January 15, 2008
in Media.
Beijing is rated as one of the top 10 cities to visit in 2008 by the popular men’s internet portal website, AskMen.com. Featured in their preview of Beijing is our neighborhood of Nanluoguxiang, which they describe as a “bohemian hangout with a local feel.” That is among one of the reasons why we at NLGX love Nanluoguxiang!
Click here to read more about Nanluoguxiang and Beijing at AskMen.com.
