The debacle left one firefighter dead and prompted an extraordinary apology from CCTV, one of the ruling Communist Party's most powerful propaganda arms that had been looking forward to opening its new base in October.

"CCTV is deeply sorry that the fire caused severe losses to state property," said a statement on its website that nevertheless did not admit direct responsibility for the blaze.

"CCTV sincerely apologises to people who live nearby for the inconvenience and for the traffic jams (caused by the fire)".

The blaze engulfed a nearly completed 30-storey cultural centre that was to house the Mandarin Oriental's flagship China hotel, as well as a television studio and an IT centre.

It stood just 200 metres from the CCTV tower that had already won fame ahead of its opening as one of Beijing's most stunning buildings and a striking symbol of China's new-found global power.

Both buildings were designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas' Office of Metropolitan Architecture and were due to open this year.

The firefighter, a 30-year-old man, died after inhaling toxic fumes while battling the fire that began on Monday night and raged for more than five hours, officials said.

Seven other people were injured, but the Mandarin Oriental said no one was in the hotel when the fire started.

City government officials said the exterior of the cultural centre and hotel had been severely damaged, while the external walls of the 234 metre CCTV tower were burnt but its structure was not harmed.

CCTV gave no indication Tuesday on whether the fire would push back the scheduled October opening.

In a public relations disaster for CCTV, authorities said the station defied police warnings and set off powerful fireworks in the complex.

"The owner caused the fire because it violated regulations and set off fireworks at the construction site," Zhu Xu, a spokesman with the Beijing government,said.

CCTV staff recorded the fireworks show, which involved pyrotechnics far stronger than the public was allowed to use, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Beijing Fire Control Bureau Luo Yuan as saying.

"Owners of the property ignored policemen's warnings that such fireworks were not allowed," Luo said, according to Xinhua. He said the people who set off the fireworks were being detained for questioning.

Fireworks had erupted right across Beijing on Monday night to celebrate the Lantern Festival that marks the official end of the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Letting off fireworks on Lunar New Year's Eve, which fell on January 25 this year, and throughout the festive period is a long-held Chinese tradition based on the belief that the noise will ward off evil spirits and ghosts.

But it is also a notoriously dangerous practice, and was banned in Beijing between 1994 and 2005.

AFP