June 26, 2008
"The Dragon" to descend on the Shanghai city skyline
It's finally coming! The "big one" eagerly predicted by Shanghaiist in 2006 — China's tallest building will begin construction this year in Shanghai. At 580m, the Shanghai Center will top a triangle of impressive towers with the 420-meter-high Jin Mao Tower and the 492-meter-high Shanghai World Financial Center in the Lujiazui district of Pudong. The building will be designed by Gensler, a U.S. firm, in conjunction with the Shanghai-based Architectural Design & Research Institute of Tongji University. It will be designed to look like a coiled dragon, the architects said. At its completion, the building will be 118 stories high and 79m taller than China's former tallest building, the Taipei 101, currently the world's tallest building.
At this point, its designers are only claiming that the Shanghai Center will be China's tallest building, but does it have a shot at being the tallest in the world? Our research shows that Burj Dubai, the skyscraper rising in the United Arab Emirates with a completion date in 2009, is currently 636m tall, but its final height is being kept a secret. Another skyscraper planned for Dubai, Al Burj, has a proposed final height of 1,200m (*gasp*)! With these feats in mind, Shanghaiist has two questions: will the Shanghai Center be able to top those erections, and is it possible to write about architecture without sexual innuendo?
Photo from Shanghai Daily.
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The Taipei 101 never was in China. You are either stupid or mistaken. Taipei 101 is in the indepedent sovereign nation of Taiwan, not it the communist, autocracy, kleptocracy of China trash.
Adrienne Wong is nothing but a useful idiot, perpetuating this lie:
"At its completion, the building will be 118 stories high and 79m taller than China's former tallest building, Taipei 101, in Taiwan."
Taiwan is not and will never be part of the PRC, you POS!!!
We do not want you commie slime and goon/thug culture to infect our beautiful island nation.
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Geezus. Here we go again.
"Taipei 101 is in the indepedent sovereign nation of Taiwan, not it the communist, autocracy, kleptocracy of China trash."
Dude, as much as I personally like how that sounds, I don't think the government you just voted in would agree with you.
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Ma Yong-jeou's campaign focused on improving ties with China. That doesn't mean joining back up with the PRC. Ties meaning more flights(tourism) between the two countries and more economic opportunities.
Mr. Ma said something like this in an article a few weeks back - "We aren't trying to re-join the PRC, but simply work with them to improve both countries. We won't see us be unified with in this lifetime."
If you want the exact quote, I would be more than happy to find it.
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"We do not want you commie slime and goon/thug culture to infect our beautiful island nation."
10/10 for trolling
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When did Xinhua take over Shanghaiist? At least the writers get paid now, right? Right?
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It's not exactly "trolling" when a comment that the Shanghaiist editors have to know would be deeply offensive to a lot of people gets a strong, angry and emotional response. It's exactly what you'd expect.
I don't get this. Either Shanghaiist's editors are: 1) Intentionally staking out an extreme and provocative political position that they know would create a comments-section fire storm, or 2) somebody's snoozing at the editorial wheel.
Either way, it sucks. How about a little journalistic integrity. I know you're just unpaid bloggers, but c'mon...
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@WatchBagDVD: Yes it would appear that somebody at the editorial wheel's been snoozing, and we've since corrected the offending text.
Take a deep breath everyone, and the sun will still shine tomorrow.
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Glad it was snoozing! Everyone's entitled to a snooze now and then...
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Shanghai Center? Perhaps they should spell it in proper English (i.e. Centre) and differentiate it from other similarly-named projects around town.
Surely after committing to spending tonnes of money on these behemoths, these folks can spend some of that on thinking up a creative name for them.
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proper english? come on. don't be so picky. it's as dialectal a language as any.
and for as many comments as i see on here about how shanghaiist hates china, i'd think people would be pleased to see that in there. at any rate, calm down people. it's not like the comments on a short post about a new skyscraper in shanghai are really going to influence domestic/international policy.
i was under the impression that the soil in that area wasn't so great, being essentially river delta material. it'll be interesting to see what they do for the 'dragon'.
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This what democracy taught you guys? intolerance.
I was expecting some comments on the building itself, but instead they are hate speeches.
I'd like to quote a sentence often used, DEAL WITH IT. The author is entitled to the opinion as much as you independistas do.
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Will the Shanghai Center be able to top those erections?
No.
And is it possible to write about architecture without sexual innuendo?
Yes.
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The real story is that Pudong sucks ass
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Is it possible to write about architecture without sexual innuendo...?
As an architecture student, I must, sadly, answer yes.
But this post sure gave me an erection!
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Does kinda look like the Dragon could lean over to the World Financial Center and give the opening at the top a good poke...
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check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM43KhCgJkc&feature=related
This is how they solved those geological problems when building skyscrapers on Pudong's soft soil.
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Oh Heavens! I would say Ms. Wong intentionally wrote what she wrote. My comment to her would be that if she wants to insist that Taipei 101 is in China, she should be correct and say it is in the Republic of China. If she finds that distasteful, she should say Greater China. In any event, saying that Taipei 101 is in the same country as this new tower is bound to incite controversy. As this should not be the point of such a straightforward article, I can only question her writing skills, since there were other, less-controversial ways to say what she said.
As for you Vladivostok, don't confuse Ma's government with desire to appartain to the PRC. The ROC does still exist, you know.
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Tapei 101 is in the democratic china-the repulic of china.
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There's only one China and Taipei the capital city of the Taiwan province. Hence, Taipei 101 "was the tallest building in China". Nothing to debate there, open and shut case. Nuts on your chin!
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There is one China one Taiwan, with Taiwan being technologically and culturally superior to Mordor, er, China.
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Taiwanese = Chinese
you are a useful idio, you really are an idiot
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"The real story is that Pudong sucks ass"
My favourite from a very entertaining list of comments.
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"There is one China one Taiwan, with Taiwan being technologically and culturally superior to Mordor, er, China."
8/10
First post was superior.
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wow, I dodn't know expats were so "fen qing" too
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CHinese should be clever enough not to copy USA where the tallest used to stand. You know when WTC ( not WC) collapsed, what a waste of steel and glass!
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You are illiterate
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@ Shangers
It seems like you are the one that need to learn proper English there.
Centre , the r in front of the e is actually a french influence on English language.
Center is an American spelling, free from any influence.