China has done it again, pushing architectural boundaries higher and higher. The Aizhai Bridge (矮寨大桥) is a suspension bridge on the G65 Baotou-Maoming Expressway near Jishou, Hunan. It is the world's highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel bridge with a main span of 1,146 metres and a deck height of 350 metres. more ›

Half of all the world's skyscrapers currently under construction are in China. And like New York in the run-up to the Wall Street crash of 1929, or Dubai before the 2008 financial collapse, analysts point to the link between building for pride and an impending economic fall. [Al Jazeera] more ›

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Broad Group, a Chinese sustainable building company, has constructed a 30-storey tall hotel prototype in 360 hours near Hunan province's Dongting Lake. They claim the hotel can withstand a 9 magnitude earthquake, is five times more quake-resistant than conventional buildings and five times more energy efficient, with indoor air 20 times purer than the air outside. Make of that what you will, but the resulting timelapse video is pretty damn impressive. more ›

Rumor has it that the Confucius Temple in Rehe will house a hotel and restaurant in the near future! more ›

A property developer in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, not only refused to pay its 2,000 migrant workers' wages on time, but also beat them up when they had the audacity to demand for payment, leaving 37 wounded. more ›

A 31-kilometer section of the new S207 highway in Gansu, an 8.7 billion RMB project ($1.36 billion USD), is already being repaired for cracks mere months after opening for service. The 235-kilometer Tianding Expressway (天定高速) runs from Tianshui (天水) to Dingxi (定西) in Gansu, and was completed on May 31st. more ›

Shanghai's Metro authority just announced the closure of two downtown roads, beginning this Saturday. Qufu Road (曲阜路) in Huangpu District and Damuqiao Road (大木桥路) in Xuhui District will be closed for more than two years, until the end of 2013, in order to make way for Line 12 metro stations in the Metro expansion plan. Once completed, Line 12 will connect Minhang district with northern Pudong. So if you're a driver, bus passenger, or frequent cab-taker, expect to catch yourself stuck in traffic or making a detour if you're near the mentioned areas. Pedestrians, and cyclists, (and we suspect four-legged friends, as well as some e-bike/scooter riders) will not be affected. more ›

China is not just building roads, railways, bridges and stadiums on the African continent. It's also building its churches. Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Pentecostal -- China's building them all at a price that the Africans can swallow. From the Ecumenical News International:

“We have worked with them before and we have had a very good experience with them,” the Rev. Anthony Mwituria, who oversees constructions in the archdiocese, said in an interview. “We issued a tender and they came with the best deal.” Church officials say the companies are reliable, quick and efficient. more ›

Two years ago, Al Jazeera's China correspondent Melissa Chan visited the city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia and found an entire town raised from the desert in just five years, complete with gleaming skyscrapers and futuristic buildings. Only problem was, nobody was actually living there. more ›

This sort of thing would be absurd in some other country besides China, where it can be neatly filed under 'business as usual.' A railway overpass on the Beijing to Fuzhou high-speed rail line recently completed construction, and just happens to now loom over a residential complex in Shuangdun, a small town outside the Anhui capital of Hefei. more ›

Four people were killed in a scuffle between rival construction companies in Gansu province last weekend when arguments over a parking dispute escalated to outright violence. After a highway construction company started a fight with a rival railway construction company, the railway construction company set off explosives in revenge against the other crew. Just another good reason never drive or own a vehicle in China. more ›

• HELL HAS OFFICIALLY FROZEN OVER: Shanghai urban planning authorities are actually reconsidering their real estate plans for adding high-rise complexes to the Bund after "a large majority of local citizens disapproved the design... In a public survey launched by the authority, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they consider the proposed 136-meter-high SOHO twin towers too high and out of harmony with the rest of the Bund's architecture."
• Speaking of construction, did you know that at least 60,000 residential building units in the city are illegally constructed or expanded?

Only a day and a half after it was opened, a newly constructed highway in Kunming, Yunnan province collapsed on July 10, killing two and injuring two others. It's being called the "shortest-lived highway ever." While rain was largely blamed for the collapse, it is obvious to observers that both proper testing and proper construction safety measures hadn't been undertaken. more ›

• A fire in a four-story clothing factory in Beijing early this morning killed 17 and injured at least 24 in yet another tragedy caused by illegal construction practices. Those killed were all migrant workers.
• Rescue workers are scrambling to reach eight miners trapped underground after an explosion rocked their facility in Guizhou this morning.
• An explosion in a pesticide plant in Guangxi caused three known injuries. Fires engulfed 3,000 meters and two warehouses. Two harmful chemicals have been confirmed on site, and authorities have cordoned off the factory awaiting further tests.

Local authorities in Chaohu, Anhui assured nearby residents that the planned demolition of a gate near their homes and businesses would be a professional and measured process. Villagers living as close as 20 meters from the gate worried aloud that their windows would be damaged, but were assured the process would be safe, and that they could in fact watch it from their homes! When the time came and the charges exploded, not only did they fail to knock down the gate, they blew out all the neighboring windows and destroyed the furniture inside. What did the official have to say? "Well, the demolition was mostly successful. Only a few defects." They eventually pulled the gate down with a truck. more ›

In order to make way for metro line expansion, two high-rise building were demolished in downtown Ningbo on Wednesday. An 11-story financial center and 21-story riverfront high-rise were reduced to rubble in the largest ever demolition undertaken in the city. After a complex network of explosives were placed, it took a total of exactly 7 second for these two buildings to be carefully and simultaneously blasted to smithereens. more ›

Recently plagued by corruption scandals and constantly overshadowed by completion deadlines, it certainly is easy to forget about the living force propelling China's high-speed rail network forward. We are witnessing the second-largest public works program in history, after the interstate system in America, and the human aspect is all but lost when thinking in numbers like one trillion RMB and 120,000 km.Thanks to Youth Times (年青时报) photographer Wang Xinke, one part of this process, the Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed rail link completed in October of 2010, has been recorded for posterity. more ›

Thought the state-abetted tree-cutting was just a Nanjing problem? Well, now, it's come to Shanghai too, and for the same reason. more ›

24 people are to be prosecuted over the fire that killed 58 and injured 71 in November of last year. Among the charged are government officials, welders, construction supervisors and the heads of the construction company itself. Charges include bribery, neglect and illegal contracting. more ›

Encouraged by the over-reaction of the Chinese authorities, a new post on the site Boxun.com has now called for weekly protests as a continuation of the "Jasmine Revolution". The next protest, which is to be held this Sunday, has been expanded to 18 cities across China (Note to Ambassador Huntsman: Do not appear at any of these locations!). more ›

Yesterday authorities reported that all the residents of the 416 households living in the buildings next to the site of the November 15 Jing'an fire have finally moved back into their homes. The two buildings continue to stand shrouded in scaffolding, however, as an eerie reminder of the culprit in the tragedy next door. Shoddy and flammable building materials were responsible for the rapid spread of the fire that claimed 58 lives and drew global attention to the disturbing lack of oversight and regulation in Chinese construction contracting. In response to the disaster, the local government yesterday announced an extensive overhaul of construction rules and practices in Shanghai. more ›

The World Expo draws to a close in less than a month and Shanghai urban planning officials seek to turn the space into yet another busy city hub chock full of, not surprisingly, ritzy malls and high rise apartments. more ›

A stone’s throw away from the Bund is the Shiliupu docks. Recently rebuilt, for the hefty sum of three billion RMB, the dock saw its official opening on Saturday. Unfortunately, it seems that the only thing the dock is open for is critique. more ›

Thought the end of Expo would mean the end of giant construction projects in Shanghai? Ha, how naive! Shanghai's only gotten a taste of creating huge structures out of nothing, and now it's revealed its plans to make what would essentially be Puxi's answer to the Lujiazui business district in the South Bund area. more ›

Jing'an Temple has nearly completed a newly built 63-meter-tall pagoda on its premises, as part of a series of renovations. The temple itself originated from 247 AD, and moved to its current location during the Song Dynasty, in 1216. A very old temple in every sense of the word. Why, then, we wonder, do the "renovations" make such a historical site look like a Vegas-style casino? more ›

With the Expo in 33 days and counting, the pace of demolition, renovation, and renewal in this city has only continued its forward sprint. While cleaning up for the Expo has been the primary motivation behind the large-scale demolition of old buildings and neighborhoods during the past few years, many have simply fallen victim to Shanghai’s rapid pace of urbanization. Those of us who live here are pretty immune by now to the daily sounds of construction and the sight of historical structures and traditional longtangs being torn down to make way for gleaming new residential or commercial buildings... but it still hurts to see it happen so wantonly. more ›

After what seems like years (two to be exact) of walking through Zhongshan Dongyi Lu and meeting nothing but rubble, it seems the Bund is finally ready to show us the results of its extensive cosmetic surgery. Officials have announced that the Bund will be open to the public on March 28 and will feature a brand-new riverside promenade, four theme squares connected by walkways, and an underground passageway to keep unsightly vehicles away from our sensitive eyes. Lovely! In related news, 95% of reconstruction projects in the city should be finished by April 15, giving Shanghai two weeks to enjoy everything before the Expo floodgates open. more ›

With just over two months to go until opening day, preparations for Expo have reach fever pace - unfortunately, among those preps are China's famous "forced relocations." While this ever-controversial method of spacemaking is not exclusive to the Expo, or even to special events, it has been Expo-related people-moving that has made international headlines most recently: a group of more than 200 Shanghai-based protesters marched on Beijing to fight against the forced demolitions of their homes. more ›

Remember that building that collapsed in Minhang last year? According to Shanghai Daily, it might get a nominal facelift (security inspections aside, hopefully): apartment owners want the management to change the name of the complex. Of course, those who already own property in "Lotus Riverside" are fearful the complex's bad rep will affect the already outrageous real estate prices, but the owners of the buildings will only accede if 90% of residents agree. Perhaps both sides should bear in mind our Shakespearian coinage: a property by any other same would topple as easily. more ›