Published : 24/09/2025

On 24 September 1959, the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, was completed.

From then on, representatives of the people from across the nation would gather here to discuss national policy, and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) would plan major state initiatives here.

During the Beidaihe Conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1958, it was decided that several monumental, contemporary-style buildings would be constructed in Beijing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the country.

At that time, buildings such as the Ten Thousand People's Hall (later named the "Great Hall of the People" by Mao Zedong), the Museum of History, the Museum of the Revolution, and the National Grand Theatre were included in the "National Day Projects".

During the design of the Great Hall of the People, the then Premier Zhou Enlai (周恩來) proposed to "make all the finest things, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, serve our purpose". He stated that the design should not be constrained by the traditional forms of existing architecture, advocating that "people come first, and objects should serve people".

In October 1958, the construction on the Great Hall of the People officially began.

By gathering building materials from all over the country at the time, and with the workers building it through overtime, the construction team took only 10 months to complete everything from the design drawings to the installation and testing of all decorations and equipment, completing the Great Hall of the People on 24 September 1959.

On 27 January 1979, the Great Hall of the People was officially opened to the public from all walks of life.

The Great Hall of the People in Beijing is located to the right of the front of Tiananmen, with a floor area of 171,800 square metres; its floor plan is in the shape of the Chinese character "山", which means "mountain".

Its exterior has light yellow granite walls with yellow and green interlocking coloured glaze roof eaves above and a five-metre-high granite base below; its main entrance faces Tiananmen Square with the national emblem inlaid above, is fronted by 12 light grey marble columns 25 metres high, and is surrounded by 134 round colonnade pillars.

The Great Hall of the People is composed of three sections: the central Great Auditorium, the northern Banquet Hall, and the southern office building of the National People's Congress.

The Great Auditorium is the main structure of the Great Hall of the People; the auditorium has a fan-shaped floor plan. The ceiling of the auditorium features 500 "sky full of stars" lamps and a giant red five-pointed star emitting 70 rays of light.

The northern Banquet Hall is where state banquets and grand receptions are held, and it is large enough to accommodate a banquet for 5,000 people or a reception for 10,000 people.

Surrounding the Banquet Hall are 28 lacquered and gilded columns, and the ceiling has embossed fibreglass patterns and colourful caissons.

The southern office building of the National People's Congress includes 33 conference halls, named after the provinces, autonomous regions, centrally administered municipalities, and the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions of China.

Each conference hall is decorated according to local characteristics, and a lounge for foreign guests is located on the second floor.