China 19: Pudong, Shanghai
31 January 2009
Pudong, the East side of the Huangpu river that crosses Shanghai, has skyrocketed from farmland to skyscrapers in less than 20 years. The city district holds a sub-provincial administrative status, which has been defined as to become mainland’s China most important financial and commercial hub. Settled to attract foreign investments, construction and planning started in the early 90s and Pudong today hosts a world class skyline which, by the way, is still growing.
The latest addition to the financial Lujiazui district is the Shanghai World Financial Center with its roof hitting 492m, the tallest building of China (including Hong Kong), and the second-tallest in the world. And the original planning asks for another über-tower. So, the Shanghai tower was annouced to crown the district, hitting 632m (thus surpassing the taiwanese by far) with completion originally planned in time for the 2010 expo, but delays delay, construction started only very recently, unfortunately it won’t be done till 2014.
In the big blue empty space on the right, imagine the 128 story tall, slick glass facade skyscraper, twisting on itself as it rises, its skin curled towards the sky. Something like this.
Commentaires [4]
William, you might want to check these out, a flickr photoset of China from the mid-eighties:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kattebelletje/sets/72157612875649508/
Thanks for the link, Eric. I took a look and the pics definitely remind me of my visit to China in 1988. Even though a tremendous amount has changed in the last 20 years, the pictures are evidence of the vitality of the Chinese people. They’ve always had enormous potential. Now they’re able to fulfill that potential .. for good and also for bad, as your back street boy photo shows.
You’ve inspired me to look at my own pics of China from 1988. I’m going to have some ot them scanned and post them on my blog :)
Some of the pics at the Flickr site are of the bridge over the Yangtze River in Nanjing. I walked over the same bridge and I took pictures during the crossing.
While you’re waiting to see those pics at my blog, you can check out some new pics I posted. They’re pics of another river crossing, the Brooklyn Bridge. You can see them at www.williamlandryphoto.com
Bonne continuation de voyage!
I remember Pudong when it was farmland back in 1988. The streets of Shanghai were filled with bikes & taxis & a few official limousines. When I departed China at the end of a 3-week trip, I sailed home to Japan over the East China Sea. The journey on the ferry to the port of Osaka took two days & two nights. The sea was as flat as a mirror.