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 ›

In December of last year, the Broad Sustainable Building company accomplished the latest viral feat of Chinese engineering by taking only 15 days to build a pre-fabricated 30-story building in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. more ›

more ›

It's a tiny village that's home to just 380 households with 1,520 people, but Huaxi Village, supposedly the richest village in the People's Republic, now has a skyscraper to call its own. 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?

So long an icon of Shanghai’s rich colonial history, the Bund is set to receive a modern overhaul. more ›

When we wrote about Shanghai’s falling glass problem due to lax safety regulations last month, we were at least happy to report that cars were the only victims. We spoke too soon. In a gruesome turn of events, Shanghai Daily reports, "A 19-year-old woman received compensation from a commercial building operator in Hangzhou yesterday after her leg was virtually severed by a shard of falling glass. She faces amputation. The woman, Zhu Yiyi, is now in a Shanghai hospital for the surgery in hopes of preserving more of her leg….A 1-meter-long sheet of glass dropped from the 21st-floor and hit Zhu from behind on her knee on July 8 as she walked near the 23-story Qingchun Development Building on her way to work in Hangzhou, capital of neighboring Zhejiang Province. Witnesses said her left leg was almost cut off beneath her knee." more ›

I bet more than a few of you forgot that Shanghai is building the second tallest building on the planet! Not your fault. We've basically ignored Shanghai Tower (上海中心大厦) since announcing its groundbreaking three years ago, but regardless of our neglect, construction is plowing forward. The height of the tower's "core tube" has now surpassed the 100 meter mark. Only 532 meters to go! more ›

Shanghai Daily is reporting what might just be the most disturbing bit of public safety news so far this summer: Shanghai's skyscraper windows have started cracking and crashing to the ground. We're not sure how we missed this, but three separate incidents happened on the same day last month, causing the city to review regulations concerning high-rise glass maintenance. As it turns out, there are none. more ›

Spotted by Dinglespeaks:
more ›

For the army of window cleaners that keep this city's many skyscrapers gleaming, life literally hangs on a thread:
more ›

In case you were keeping score, Google three enterprising gentlemen have put together a Google map that allows you to track ongoing skyscraper projects in and around Shanghai. more ›

• Learning from Billboards [WSJ] "Hangzhou may have reminded Marco Polo of his native Venice. What grabs 38-year-old American artist-curator Mathieu Borysevicz about Hangzhou is its signs. And signs and signs. In thousands of photos in his new book, “Learning From Hangzhou,” Mr. Borysevicz documents “the pluralism” of a dynamic Chinese city. It’s a study of how low-brow advertising and other visual messages inundate residents in Hangzhou, and truly, all of urban China."
• Shanghai growth glitters but lacks weight [MarketWatch] "There is scant evidence the financial crisis has dampened Shanghai's ambitions, as new subways and buildings are built at a record pace to be in time for the Shanghai Expo next year. Could this be the equivalent of London's Great Exhibition of 1851, except this time it will be China parading its industrial might? Small wonder so many visitors to Shanghai leave in a maximum bullish mode. But one thing that struck me driving past the impressive skyscrapers of Pudong was the muted neon. I had to ask my host whether they had turned all the lights on full, or if there was simply no one home. The Shanghai World Financial Center, also known as the "Mori Building" after the Japanese architect who designed it, is reportedly only 30% rented, while the nearby residential towers have even fewer signs of life (or light) in them."
• Obama's Tire Tariff Draws Beijing's Ire [BusinessWeek] "A Chinese government outburst in response to a stiff tariff imposed by the Obama Administration on Chinese-made tires appeared to raise the specter of trade protectionism at a time of a fragile global economic recovery. In official statements over the weekend, Beijing strongly protested the 35% tariff imposed by President Barack Obama in response to a complaint by the United Steelworkers. Beijing said it would investigate alleged dumping of U.S. automobile parts and chicken products in China and study the possibility of filing an unspecified trade complaint with the World Trade Organization."

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

Because you never know who might be watching what we put up on the site. Longtime photo contributor Jakob Montrasio had his amazing images of Pudong skyscrapers featured in a New York City exhibition at the Skyscraper Museum this month. How did they find out about him? Through us! We featured his pics in a post titled “Photos that actually make Pudong look cool” in April 2007. more ›

• Developers hope to avoid 'skyscraper curse' [China Daily] "Hoping to avoid the "skyscraper curse," China's cities continue to reach for the sky. While most of the world's major construction projects have been put on hold, new skyscrapers are under construction in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and several smaller cities, defying the global economic slowdown. Developers believe China will prove to be an exception to the "skyscraper index" - popularly known as the "skyscraper curse" - proposed by financial analyst Andrew Lawrence. In 1999, Lawrence noted that major financial crises often follow the construction of record-breaking skyscrapers."
• Grape Wall Challenge: Top ten white wines under RMB100 [Grape Wall of China] "On March 13, a dozen expert and consumer judges met in Beijing for the Grape Wall Challenge and tasted 23 red wines that retail for less than RMB100 in China."
• Prepaid card woes multiply in Shanghai [China Daily] "The Shanghai Committee of Consumers' Rights and Interests Protection yesterday urged consumers opting for prepaid cards to be on guard, in view of the rise in related complaints in the city. The committee said it received more than 4,000 complaints in 2008, up 14 percent than in 2007. Most of these complaints have to do with beauty and hair salons or fitness clubs that often shut down without notifying their clients, said the commission. The credit remaining on the cards issued by them thus becomes invalid."

The China Daily has issued a damning verdict on the construction of the new 632 meter Shanghai Tower — soon to be China's tallest skyscraper. It says that with the new tower, "blind worship and race for skyscrapers has reached a new high" and that the 121 storey tower will be a "milestone in turning Shanghai into a less pleasant concrete jungle". The opinion piece (God knows who it was written by as no byline was supplied) then sought to substantiate with a litany of reasons why the Shanghai Tower would be a bad idea: (1) Shanghai is sinking, and a new skyscraper isn't going to help; (2) Traffic in Lujiazui is congested enough and a new building is going to make rush hours all the more "nightmarish"; (3) The "urban heat island effect" is going to make Shanghai feel even more like a sauna in summers; (4) Skyscrapers are vulnerable to attacks and disasters; (5) The economic risk of building the Shanghai Tower will be shared by various state-owned enterprises and the money could be "better spent elsewhere"; (6) Shanghai should instead save its old buildings from demolition; (7) Shanghai's public transportation sucks. Why not spend more money there? (8) It also has the fastest graying population in China and should build more facilities to cater to the elderly. In conclusion, China Daily judged super skyscrapers like the Shanghai Tower to be "not a priority for Shanghai" and that it "could cause more harm than add to its glamor". Such words of wisdom. more ›

A random internet search brought us to this kinda cool poster from artist Steve Thomas. It's a retro-futuristic advert for the World's Fair in 2474 (we guess) that celebrates Shanghai's "Five Centuries of Progress." We suppose that means the 2010 thingy we're hosting goes OK. Ironically, the Pudong skyline used to represent the future in the poster is already the old Pudong skyline. The best part: Entry to the World's Fair is only four credits. And children get in for a half credit! We can't wait until 2474. more ›

A giant device specially designed for opening sealed bottles otherwise known as the Shanghai World Financial Center has been named the world's "Best Tall Building" this year by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The last time this device made the news was in January when a certain city blog broke the news that a horde of misbehaving monkeys had scaled the giant bottle opener illegally. The monkeys managed to flee the country before police caught up with them. more ›

Shanghai-based blogger Elaine Chow plunks down 150 kuai and writes, "It took one last elevator to bring me up those three final levels. This time, as I stepped out of the elevator and into the walkway, it was hard not to gasp." Read it all here. And read all of Elaine's Gizmodo posts here. more ›

For those of you that still haven't gotten around to your own illegal hike up the World Financial Center, you'll be glad to know you can soon get a bird's eye view of the city from the top of that building without risking arrest. Yes, the building that's been through many trials and tribulations will finally be open this Saturday. Apparently, the gallery located on the 100th floor of the skyscraper at a height of 474 metres (1,555 feet) above the ground is the world's highest sightseeing hall. From AFP:

Sightseers who want a bird's eye view of the city will have to pay 150 yuan (22 dollars) each for the experience, it said. more ›

Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com. more ›

Apparently our friends were so addicted to the experience they've done it a few times since. It also looks like a mini-trend has caught on, as several other groups have been inspired to organise their own expeditions up the WFC. more ›