The headquarters of China's CCTV state broadcaster is a complex engineering feat, involving a loop of six horizontal and vertical sections covering 473,000 metres of floor space. Ed Jones / AFP
The headquarters of China's CCTV state broadcaster is a complex engineering feat, involving a loop of six horizontal and vertical sections covering 473,000 metres of floor space. Ed Jones / AFP

Tall storeys in China's glitzy cities



Big is beautiful in China. While the global economic slowdown has triggered tough times for skyscraper construction in the West, it is a different story in the second-biggest economy in the world.

With the country’s economy expanding at more than 7 per cent a year, there is serious interest in constructing the mega-tall buildings that showcase China’s achievements.

The UAE is home to the world's tallest building, the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai, while the world's first kilometre-high building, Jeddah's Kingdom Tower, is due to be completed in 2018.

In China, it is a numbers game. Nine of the world’s tallest 20 buildings being built here are potent symbols of the country’s economic might.

Adrian Smith, the Chicago-based designer of the Burj Khalifa who is working on the Kingdom Tower, believes rapid urbanisation in China will fuel major expansion in tall buildings.

"In the near future, it depends how the economy goes in China, but from an urbanistic point of view, there are 179,000 people moving into urban areas every week. Do they go into a horizontal or a vertical city? It's a question of economics," said Mr Smith.
China's statistics on tall buildings are not for those afraid of heights.

There are 239 buildings taller than 200 metres being built in the country, far more than any other nation. At the end of last year, there were only 61 buildings taller than 300 metres in the world, but in five years, China will have more than 60.

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The nation’s growing ranks of “mega-tall” buildings encompass the need to match functionality with property costs, the architect Timothy Johnson, chairman of the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), stated at the organisation’s first congress in China last month.

“But also the image. It’s all about telling the story of the accomplishments of China,” said Mr Johnson, a designer partner at the firm NBBJ.

“If you look back at the Sears Tower or the Hancock Center in Chicago, they are about image. I don’t think tall buildings are going to slow down … Human accomplishment and urbanisation will continue to drive this for the future,” added Mr Johnson, who designed the Sail at Marina Bay in Singapore, the world’s 10th-tallest residential building.

Jack Portman, the vice chairman and chief executive of John Portman & Associates, which has built some of China’s landmark buildings in the past 30 years, at the CTBUH meeting showed images of the transformation of Shanghai that bear out these figures.

When Portman’s company signed its joint venture in 1985 to build the Shanghai Centre, there was little to see on the city’s horizon. Since then, it has been completely altered, from a low-rise sprawl located almost entirely on the Puxi side of the river to a megalopolis with a giant high-rise city on reclaimed land in Pudong. He underlined the future transformation by showing images of projects his company is working on in other cities, such as Jinan, Wenzhou and Wujiang.

It made sense that the CTBUH congress took place in the Jin Mao Tower, an 88-storey skyscraper in the Pudong district of Shanghai.

Until 2007, it was the tallest building in China, the fifth-tallest in the world by roof height and the seventh by pinnacle height.

Right next door is the Shanghai Tower, under construction, which, when completed in two years, will stand 632 metres high with 121 storeys.

China completed 23 buildings of more than 200 metres last year, more than any other country, and five of those buildings were in Shanghai. The city’s vice mayor, Shen Jun, believes that tall buildings are an inevitable part of the urban make-up in Shanghai, which is China’s most populous city.

"Land resources are not renewable," he said. "We have no choice but to build high-rises to save land."
Li Guoqiang, a professor of structural engineering at Tongji University in Shanghai, saw the start of the boom in Shenzhen, the financial centre just across the border from Hong Kong, during the 1980s.

“I participated in the first tall building over 100 metres in Shenzhen,” Mr Li said. “At that time China had no experience in the design and construction of tall buildings. We imported the steel from Japan and the fabrication was done in Japan. The workers were trained in Japan at that time.

“Right now, China has much improved. Next, China needs to develop techniques, such as techniques in structural terms to deal with earthquakes, which is very important in China,” Mr Li added.

“When I first moved to Shanghai in the 1980s, there were 10 million people here. Now there are 20 million people. There are more and more people from the countryside moving to Shanghai. We need tall buildings for these people. The land in Shanghai is limited.”

There are crazy stories coming out of China’s tall building world. It took Dubai more than five years to build the Burj Khalifa, but architects and engineers in June were saying they needed just 90 days to build Sky City, an 838-metre building in Changsha, Hunan province, probably best known as the hometown of the late Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong.

Sky City will be built by Broad Sustainable Building, a unit of the air conditioner maker Broad Group.

The construction process will be fast because the building will be made up of precast sections. However, public uproar over the project’s claims led the local government to withdraw information about the development, and the group subsequently said its plan was awaiting the government’s approval.

As well as tall buildings, there are also tall tales in China.

MATCH INFO

World Cup qualifier

Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')

UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 325bhp

Torque: 450Nm

Price: Dh359,000

On sale: now 

How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

Essentials

The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes. 
 

Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes. 


In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes. 
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESam%20Ottewill-Soulsby%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPrinceton%20University%20Press%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E392%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJuly%2011%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4-litre%20flat-six%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E525hp%20(GT3)%2C%20500hp%20(GT4)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E465Nm%20(GT3)%2C%20450Nm%20(GT4)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20automatic%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh944%2C000%20(GT3)%2C%20Dh581%2C700%20(GT4)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

The Ashes

Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

Rating: 1/5

Greatest Royal Rumble results

John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match

Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto

Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus

Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal

Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos

Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe

AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out

The Undertaker beats Rusev in a casket match

Brock Lesnar retains the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns in a steel cage match

Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5