Workers Stadium - satellite image (1967-09-20)

The Workers' Stadium (), often called Gongti, Gong Ti or Kung T'i, is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

in the Chaoyang District of north-eastern

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. It was mostly used for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

matches. The stadium was built in 1959 and was last renovated in 2004 (the concrete structure was strengthened, a new rotating display screen and energy-saving devices were installed). It had a capacity of 65,094 and covers a land area of . It was one of the

Ten Great Buildings The Ten Great Buildings () are ten public buildings that were built in Beijing in 1959, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. They were part of an architecture and urbanism initiative of Chairman Ma ...

constructed in 1959 for the tenth anniversary of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The stadium was closed for permanent renovation in 2020 and will reopen in December 2022.

History

The stadium was the main venue for the

1990 Asian Games ) , Nations participating = 36 , Athletes participating = 6,122 , Events = 308 in 27 sports , Opening ceremony = 22 September 1990 , Closing ceremony = 7 October 1990 , Officially opened by = Yang Shangkun , O ...

, where the opening and closing ceremonies were held. Some high attendance matches of the Beijing Guo'an football club are held at the stadium. In 1993, the stadium was host to a slew of

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

set by the world-leading group of Chinese distance runners at the seventh edition of the Chinese National Games, the most famous being international stars and world champions Wang Junxia and Qu Yunxia, who had dominated the 1993 World Championships a month before. The stadium holds claim to the fastest women's

1500 m The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

time ever recorded of 3:50.46, the fastest women's

3000 m The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

of 8:06.11 and the fastest women's 10,000 m of 29:31.78. These world records still stand today and are arguably the stadium's biggest claim to fame. The next year, the stadium was partially demolished and renovated as part of China's bid for the 2000 Olympic Games, which ultimately failed. The stadium continued to be a mainstay of Beijing sports into the 21st century, being the

2001 Summer Universiade The 2001 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXI Summer Universiade, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, between 22 August and 1 September. A total of 6,757 athletes from 165 nations took part in 12 spor ...

and the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

venue of

2004 AFC Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. The defending champio ...

. After Beijing became the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics in July 2001 which the stadium was originally intended as the main venue, it hosted the football quarter-finals and semi-finals, and the women's gold medal final. The stadium was scheduled to host the first ever NFL game played in China, a preseason game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots on August 8, 2007. However, the

China Bowl China Bowl may refer to: * China Bowl (NFL), a proposed football game by the National Football League * China Bowl (CAFL), the championship football game for the China Arena Football League * China Bowl (1945), a game between US Army and Navy play ...

was canceled in April 2007. The reasons given were that the NFL wanted to devote all its resources to the scheduled regular season game between the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

and the New York Giants, to be played in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on October 28, 2007. The stadium was the host for the 2009 Barclays Asia Trophy on 29 July and 31 July 2009, featuring

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in the Chaoyang District in Beijing and their hom ...

, and

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

clubs Tottenham Hotspur,

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

. It also hosted FC Bayern Munich's pre-season China Tour of 2012, during which the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club had a friendly match with

. The areas north ( Sanlitun), east, and west of the stadium are popular nightlife destinations. The ''xi men'' (West Gate) offers a strip of nightclubs. The

Workers Indoor Arena The Workers' Gymnasium (official name) is an indoor arena located west of the Workers' Stadium in Beijing, China. It was inaugurated in 1961 for the 26th World Table Tennis Championships. It hosted the boxing events at the 2008 Summer Olympics a ...

is located to the west of the stadium. The stadium has been used for concerts as well. Global superstar Mariah Carey began her sold-out five-show tour at the Workers Stadium, and Linkin Park played

The Hunting Party Tour The Hunting Party Tour was the eleventh concert tour by American rock band Linkin Park. It was launched in support of Linkin Park's sixth studio album, '' The Hunting Party'' (2014). The tour was partially announced in May 2014 through a teaser ...

at July 26, 2015 in front of an audience of 60,000. Beijing Workers Stadium, August 19, 2008

New stadium

On 4 January 2020, Workers' Stadium was announced as a host venue for the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It will involve 24 national teams after expansion in 201 ...

. However, on 14 May 2022, AFC announced that China would not be able to host the tournament due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. After finishing the 2019 season,

will play at the

Beijing Fengtai Stadium The Beijing Fengtai Stadium (Chinese: 丰台体育场) is a multi-purpose stadium in Fengtai District, Beijing, China. It is currently used mostly for football matches and also sometimes for athletics. The stadium was the home ground of Beijing R ...

for three years while renovations ahead of the tournament take place. The engineering firm of the rebuild project is

Beijing Construction Engineering Group Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) is a Chinese construction and engineering firm that has built important structures in Beijing and infrastructures and buildings overseas through international branches, in particular, an active subsid ...

. The new stadium will open in December 2022. GongTiDemolition

Notable concerts

* August 6, 1999: A-mei - Mei Li 99 * October 13, 2002:

Glay Glay (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, includ ...

- Glay One Love In Beijing, audience: 35,000 * August 28, 2004:

Faye Wong Faye Wong ( zh, 王菲; born Xia Lin on 8 August 1969) is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong. Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and her debut album '' Shirley Wong'' ( ...

- No Faye! No Live! Tour * September 23, 2005:

S.H.E S.H.E is a Taiwanese girl group whose members are Selina Jen, Hebe Tien, and Ella Chen. They formed in 2001 and are managed by HIM International Music but decided not to renew their contract in 2019 due to having their own management company. ...

- Fantasy Land world tour * October 22, 2005:

Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...

- Rainy Day 2005 Tour * May 1, 2008:

Jay Chou Jay Chou ( zh, t=周杰倫, s=周杰伦, poj=Chiu Kia̍t-lûn, p=Zhōu Jiélún, first=t, w=Chou Chieh-lun; born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality. Dubbed the " King ...

- Jay Chou 2007 World Tour * September 16, 2011:

SMAP SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six- ...

- We are SMAP! 2011 live in Beijing * May 17, 2014:

Dave Wang Dave Wang (; born 20 October 1962) is a Hong Kong-Taiwanese singer, songwriter and actor. His popular hits in the late 1980s,early 1990s and 2000s include "一場遊戲一場夢" (A Game A Dream) and "幾分傷心幾分痴" (Bits of Sadness, ...

Dave Wang comeback World Tour * October 10, 2014: Mariah Carey -

The Elusive Chanteuse Show The Elusive Chanteuse Show was the two-legged and eighth headlining concert tour by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was launched in support of her fourteenth studio album, '' Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse'' (2014). The to ...

, audience: 60,000 * October 19, 2014:

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production comp ...

- Power World Tour * July 26, 2015: Linkin Park -

* July 14, 2018:

Joker Xue Joker Xue (, born 17 July 1983) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and record producer. Formerly known as Jacky Xue, Xue is known for his hit songs and stage charisma with his signature musical style. Since his 2006 debut, Xue has produced a string ...

- Skyscraper World Tour

References

External links

Stadium pictures

The Chronicle of Gongti Ximen
article about nightlife area {{Chaoyang District, Beijing Sports venues completed in 1959 Contemporary Chinese architecture Football venues in Beijing Athletics (track and field) venues in China Sports venues in Beijing Venues of the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic football venues Stadiums of the Asian Games Multi-purpose stadiums in China Beijing Guoan F.C. Buildings and structures in Chaoyang District, Beijing Venues of the 1990 Asian Games 1959 establishments in China 2020 disestablishments in China