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Plane crashes into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper: Inside the 108-storey Citic Tower

A small plane crashed into Beijing’s Citic Tower, causing visible damage to the structure. At a height of 528 metres (1,732 feet), the skyscraper is China’s third-tallest tower and Beijing’s tallest. Nicknamed ‘China Zun’, it resembles an ancient ceremonial wine vessel

Citic is nicknamed "China Zun", after an ancient ceremonial wine vessel. Image courtesy: X

FP Explainers|Jun 26, 2026, 21:11:38 IST

Today (June 26), a small aircraft crashed into Beijing's tallest building, Citic Tower, also known as China Zun. Following the crash, huge hunks of debris and plane parts shattered on the ground, forcing the crowd to flee.

Rubble fell from the tallest skyscraper, and small fragments of the plane shattered, according to social media visuals verified by media reports. The building, in the capital’s central business district, had its windows broken by the crash, and debris fell into the streets, which were clogged with cars.

An employee at a nearby gym, who identified himself only by his surname, Zhang, said he was walking with friends in the area when he saw an aircraft hit the tower at around 6 pm local time. He added that a woman who had sustained a head injury was later taken away by ambulance, a New York Times report noted.

What to know about Beijing's Citic Tower

Citic is nicknamed "China Zun", after an ancient ceremonial wine vessel. With a height of 528 meters (1,732 feet), this tower dominates Beijing's skyline.

The design symbolises prosperity and strength, featuring a broad base, a slender middle and a flared top. The super high-rise skyscraper is located in the central business district of Chaoyang District, the primary urban and diplomatic core of Beijing.

Citic, China's third-tallest tower and Beijing's tallest, showcases both modern innovation and traditional Chinese culture.

It's a 1,731-foot (528-meter) skyscraper, the world's eighth tallest, which was completed at the end of 2018. It's a modelled shape, shaped on a "zun", an ancient Bronze Age wine vessel known for its ceremonial and symbolic significance. It is, in fact, popularly known as "China Zun."

The structure's initial design concept was developed by the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and British architectural practice TFP Farrells. Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), known for designing many of China's and the world's most ambitious skyscrapers, later completed the building design, according to CNN.

According to KPF’s design principal Robert Whitlock, the building "set a precedent” for the rest of the country.

"In looking to the future of China, you shouldn’t have to be completely wedded to the physical, formal expression of the past. If a country is looking forward, trying to establish its own identity – visually, culturally – there should be a modern mechanism for doing that," Whitlock said as quoted by CNN.

“This tower feels like it goes a long way to prove that you can find a modern idiom and still have it express some element of Chinese culture.”

The Citic Tower dominates Beijing's skyline, its slender silhouette visible from miles away and from many spots across the city.

Citic's 108 floors house office tenants, including several business centres. The tower's eight underground levels offer house retail spaces, parking facilities and underground connections to nearby metro stations.