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The Jin Mao Building in Shanghai/Pudong
At 1,379 feet, the Jin Mao Tower is only for the moment China's tallest building. It is constructed in the modern representation of a pagoda, but is seems to honor capitalism more than Buddhism. The spectacular and inspiring Jin Mao Tower of Shanghai/Pudong, at 1,379-ft./420.5-m, is China's tallest building only for a few more months, and offers itself to generations as one of man's grand creations. Though this architectual work of art will within the year be over-shadowed by the next, world's-highest, collosal sky-scraper, the Shanghai Financial Center (1,509-ft./460-m), this inspired Jin Mao Tower for the moment remains one of the world's most attractive and recognizable architectual creations, sharing a most prominent spot-light along Shanghai/Pudong's ever-changing sky-line.
Shanghai/Pudong personifies the next world-city and financial-capitol of the future, where every new building will reach dizzying heights and literally scratch and tickle the clouds. Here, dozens of new office-towers and residential glass castles speak of money and power and success. Each is an architectual master-piece, at various stages of construction and completion.
Great wealth and power, throughout the ages, has always spoken in the grandeur of its building projects and their "erection". They are today monuments, reminding future generations who controlled the spawning of money and wealth and power and vision at their moment of the world's history.
On these hectars of land in Pudong, future generations will be reminded, who were the
Architectual dreams
The new rival is nearing completion. The Shanghai Financial Centre is flexing its muscles as the world's tallest building, and will soon over-shadow Jin Mao. "movers and shakers" during these troubled times of our world, and during these impressive years in China's re-invention.
The Fortune 500 meet here in Pudong, in this center of finance, regularly. They maintain luxurious offices, plush living arrangements, and aspiring staff in their fortresses of power. Below, the "ants" ponder these grand monuments to the new, great barons of capitalism. Each "ant", in its own way, must come to terms with its much smaller space in society.
Walking Shanghai/Pudong is like walking the world's premier art-gallery for architecture. It permits the eyes to wonder and wander in amazement. In this open-air and living-museum are fantasy-creations of man, that dazzle with pride and energy.
Their glass and steel facades reflect the joy and color of the changing sunlight and of each other. On display are multitudes of buildings and constructions of unique beauty, not only reflecting the sky, but truly reaching for heaven.
Large and well-groomed parks surround and accent these monoliths. Expansive greenspace, planted with forests of maturing trees, shade the strolling residents and visitors. Promenading in Pudong deminishes man to "ant".
The district of Pudong harbors no reminders of Shanghai's ancient and historic Hutongs
Three monoliths in Shanghai
Perfect weather made this visit to Shanghai more inspiring. and the old-China neighborhoods, which once graced the river-banks. These have been dismanteled brick by brick, stone by stone, tile by tile, board by board. The modernization displaced masses of residents, who are now housed in thousands of fortress-like-complexes of multi-level housing blocks.
They are now visible from the amazing heights and the windows of each glass and steel masterpiece. One can trace the outlines of the once Hutongs by their blue and red roofs. Towering among them and demanding attention are the new and emerging glass and steel constructions, the most striking among them the Jin Mao Tower.
The Jin Mao Tower's design resembles that of a huge glass and steel pagoda, reflecting the changing colors of sunlight throughout the day. It is 88 floors high, (8 is a lucky number in China), and its total space exceeds that of all the old colonial buildings along the Bund, on the opposite side of the Huangpu River.
The top 33 floors of its 88 floors are occupied by the Grand Hyatt Hotel, offering its guest spectacular views, on clear days, toward the Pearl Tower and the Shanghai horizon beyond.
This remarkable building was constructed by the
Having crossed under the Huangpu River, the view reflects the new Shanghai.
The Pudong side of Shangai begins to display its trophies to China's new capitalism. same group, that build the Sears Tower in Chicago and represents wealth and prosperity with modern Buddhist symbolism. The stucture's 13 outer bands are symbolic in Buddhism, complementing the number of 88 floors.
The name Jin Mao is filled with meaning, from "economy and trade" to "gold and prosperity", and no doubt has satisfied the aims of its backers. This wondrous monolith has become one of the great attractions in Shanghai's Pudong District, with spectacular 360 degree views, down the Pearl TV Tower along the steep curve of the Huangpu River.
Awesome and admonishing from Jin Mao's top floor is a direct view into the construction of man's most recent fantasy, its direct neighbor, the newest-highest building in the world, the Shanghai Financial Centre.
High-speed elevators take every visitor of the Jin Mao Tower to the observation deck on the 88th floor in less than a minute. Here, the size of the Pearl Tower no longer appears so overwhelming, and the futuristic TV tower looks more like a toy. The 360 degree view towards Shanghai's horizon from the observation floor of the Jin Mao Tower, some 1,600 feet in the sky, is now only limited by haze,
Master-pieces of dreams
Continuing to sweep from left to right, the architecture of glass and steel speaks of permanence and stability in the new China fog, or smog.
A smaller crowd of visitors here, on this thrilling, man-made top-of-the-world, makes viewing the mega-city of Shanghai a more leisure experience, and on sunny and clear days it becomes a refuge for marvelous day-dreaming.
But another look outside the windows of the 88th floor reminds the dreamer quickly, that a new competitor, the next glass and steel office complex will quickly replace and begin to reflect the outlines of the pagoda-like Jin Mao Tower. The steel girders and caverns of even higher floors expose themselves in the world's next architectual creation, as man continues to build towards heaven.
What is expected to be the world's highest building is nearing completion. The Shanghai World Financial Centre, with it's phallic sleak design will surpass Jian Mao by nearly 300 feet. Because of the Asian Financial crisis, the work on its construction had been suspended for 5 years. The Financial Centre will rest on 101 floors, and will be completed by 2008, just in time to remind the folks in Beijing and those visiting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, that Shanghai will continue to show-case China's growth by hosting the 2010 World Expo.
The completion of the
One creation speaks of money, the other of power.
As the eyes continue to move from left to right, there appear the now competing monuments to China's new wealth, the Shanghai Financial Centre, almost completed, and the Jin Mao Tower, maintaining its lure. Shanghai Worlds Financial Centre will become a future journal entry.
Your comments always bring additional encouragement and reason to share my adventure.
(The 31 photos of this journal-chapter is on two pages, and I encourage enlarging each, for greater details.)
(As of today, I have lived and been a teacher at Taizhou Teachers College, in Taizhou, Jiangsu, PRC for one year.)
CONGRATULATIONS:
CONGRATULATIONS TO MY WONDERFUL SENIORS OF CORAL GABLES SR. HIGH SCHOOL ON YOUR GRADUATION AND ON YOUR SUCCESS. "MY PRIDE RUNNETH OVER"!! THE DISTANCE IS GREAT, BUT MY HEART AND GOOD WISHES ARE NEXT TO YOU. NOW COMES THE TIME FOR EVEN GREATER RESPONSIBILITY AND DEMANDS. IN EACH OF YOU HAS BEEN PLANTED THE SEEDS AND THE POTENTIAL TO CREATE A WORLD OF COMPASSION AND OF HARMONY. TAKE THE TOOLS YOUR PARENTS AND TEACHERS HAVE OFFERED YOU THROUGHOUT THESE YEARS, AND ENLIGHTEN THE WORLD. I MISS YOU, REMEMBERING THAT I HAVE LEARNED AS MUCH FROM YOU AS YOU MIGHT HAVE FROM ME.
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Celia
non-member comment
:)
stunning pictures and buildings... works of art and architecture. it is amazing to see what humans can create sometimes. it has felt much longer than one year for us since you've been gone. graduation was incredible and hopefully what's to come is even more incredible. love you, schneider :)