SCO summit: Engineer compares venue decorations to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel

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02:57

Chief engineer of the main venue for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Qingdao, Xie Haibo, compared their interior decorations with Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Workers spent weeks carving the ceilings of the meeting halls into exquisite shapes, all by hand. Then it took around half a month for 80 workers to hang over 210,000 crystal balls on the lights of the venue.

“The ceilings are about 10 meters high, so our workers had to stand on the ladders to complete their work. We treat this project not just as a construction, but a masterpiece of art.” Xie said they hope to provide a meeting environment with both grandness and delicacy for SCO leaders.

Heads of state from 8 member states, 4 observer countries and 4 dialogue partners, attended the summit on Sunday.

“We hired professional experts who worked on the preservation of the Forbidden City to take part in the interior decoration,” Xie told CGTN.

What is particularly impressive about the work is the efficiency. The venue rose from scratch in just 6 months.

Until last September, the site of the SCO summit venue was still occupied by a shopping center. The location has one of the best views of Qingdao, with the Olympic torch, picturesque coast and landmark skylines around it.

Interior of the Sistine Chapel. /VCG Photo‍

State-owned enterprise China Construction 8th Engineering Division took just 8 days to demolish the shopping center. It only took two months for them to complete the foundations of the new venue in mid-December.

By the end of the year, giant French-style windows were installed, providing spectacular ocean views from inside the venue.

Construction didn’t stop during the Chinese New Year festival in February. Instead, the team was busy fitting a pair of solar panels – the size of 10 basketball courts – in the roof. They can preserve enough energy to last for 3 hours without electricity.

By March 31, both exterior and interior were complete, marking a story of “new China speed”.

25-year-old engineer Lyu Kun told CGTN in an interview that there was no other secret — just hard work.

“Sometimes my girlfriend was very upset that I did not go home for a long time. I told her I was building some really great work for our country and our President.” Lyu said, “Now she is very proud of me for completing such a great project.”

Around 3,000 construction workers worked around the clock to make it happen, in a bid to provide a fitting venue for a summit which is representing half of the world’s population.