On my second day in Kaiping we started off the morning with a breakfast of tasty egg tarts from the local cake shop and then took the no. 4 bus out of the city towards Tangkou town where we then flagged down a passing van and negotiated with the driver (¥10) to take us the rest of the way to Li Gardens (立园) – more details here about the directions.
Last Monday was the Qingming Festival or “Tomb Sweeping Day” in China which is held on the 104th day after the winter solstice to honor departed ancestors and for people to enjoy the spring weather. As we were given the day off work I decided to take a short weekend trip out of Shenzhen to the little-known city of Kaiping (开平) located about 3 hours away by bus. The area is famous for its castle-like dwellings built by overseas Chinese in a mixture of western and eastern styles.
I’ve long been fascinated by the density of housing which can be found in many parts of Asia, and in particular Hong Kong where high-rise living has been taken to the extremes of both human and technological limits. I find it remarkable how people are able to adapt to their particular circumstances, be they due to space or resource constrains, and still retain their sanity (mostly).
One thing Shenzhen is not noted for is its architecture. If ever you wanted to see a vision of communist urban planning turned into a nightmare of concrete uniformity then this is the place to come. It’s like a bunch of uninspired architects were given a massive budget and then vomited a million lifeless tower blocks over green pastures turning them grey.
In my last post from Beijing (for now) we take a trip to a remarkable new landmark floating behind the Great Hall of the People, colloquially known as The Egg, which houses the National Centre for the Performing Arts. At a cost of 3.2 billion CNY this was no cheap egg to lay and indeed caused much controversy given its location next to some of China’s most holy of holy sites (Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are also next door). Seen here beautifully lit up at night I stumbled across it almost by accident when its shimmering titanium and glass surface caught my eye at the end of the street near where I was staying. As if a UFO had just landed in…
Shanghai is well known for its dizzying array of skyscrapers with their unique facades and styles but rarely do most people look beyond the exterior shell which can sometimes be just as intriguing on the inside as they are on the outside. Such is the case with the imposing Jinmao Tower which at 421 m high makes it the fifth tallest in the world currently (as well as looking like something out of a batman movie!). Inside the monstrous building the Shanghai Grand Hyatt hotel occupies floors 53 to 87 and therein contains the hidden gem I was here to find… The hotel is obviously only open to paying guests which, being a man of modest means, I was not. Much against the protestations of my Chinese friend (who…
As New Years Eve‘s go I think mine probably ranked among the most surreal. After work some colleagues and myself went to the “Window of the World” theme park located in the western part of Shenzhen. The 48 hectare park contains over 130 scale reproductions of some of the most famous tourist attractions in the world including a 108 meter tall fake Eiffel Tower. In China they never do things in halves and although I’m somewhat used to brash and vulgar displays of wealth around here this takes it to another level. Above: replica of the glass pyramid entrance to the Louvre in Paris but here actually an entrance to the Metro! Getting into the park proved to be a rather unpleasant experience due…
Shenzhen has got one of the most audacious looking city halls I’ve ever seen with the sweeping roof supposedly resembling traditional Chinese architecture and a bird in flight, as a symbol of the city’s upward growth. It even dwarfs some fairly large skyscrapers beside it giving you some idea of the scale – click the photo for a much larger panorama. The roof is quite beautiful and elegant but the square red and circular yellow supporting columns are ugly and the lack of symmetricity upsets the balance between both sides. I can’t quite work out if I love or hate it. Nearby is the main library, another building with an interesting roof, but for some reason they didn’t appreciate me taking photos inside even…
In addition to interviewing around 50 fresh graduates this weekend I also went up the 9th tallest building in the world (10th depending on how you calculate it) to get a fairly stunning view of the city I now call home, Shenzhen. Located in the CBD, next to Da Ju Yuan metro station, Shun Hing Square skyscraper stands at a whopping 384m tall with 69 floors and is the tallest steel building in China. There is an observation deck at the top providing a commanding view of the megalopolis below in all its sprawling glory. Although clear skies are a rarity anywhere in urban China things were better than usual that day with just a thin haze covering in the skyline. From this hight…
Design by chocorange [via] Beijing is perhaps the largest construction zone in history, with thousands of new projects under way. Once a flat cityscape dominated by the imperial Forbidden City and monumental but drab public buildings, Beijing has been struck by skyscraper fever. Over the past 30 years, China’s economy has averaged nearly 10 percent annual GDP growth, driven by the marriage of world-class technology with a vast low-cost workforce. That same dynamic has turned China into an architects’ playground, first in Shanghai in the 1990s as its skyline filled in with high-rise marvels, and now in Beijing, which is building at a mad pace in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in August. Beijing’s newest buildings push aesthetic and technological bounds, each…