2008 was the 60th Anniversary of the Communist Revolution in China. There were still many lingering signs of the celebrations that the government had staged throughout the country. We arrived well after their staging but below are some photos indicating the grand scale of those celebrations and the countless thousands of participants involved. (Read more here)
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Granny's Great China Adventure draws to a close. A final farewell to Beijing and our fabulous China experience.
I know this has nothing to do with skyscrapers but I found it an amusing curiosity.
In all of my travels I've never seen an Anus Hospital before.
Anyway here are some more assorted photos of Beijing's buildings and skyscrapers.
Constant construction all around the city.
New construction gobbles up old traditional neighborhoods.
With all the new building there is likely to be some occasional problems. Not all of the construction has been successful as evidenced by this building that simply toppled over.
Building construction failure
This 13 story apartment building in Shanghai that was under construction had a, shall we say, a little problem.
Construction continues at an insane pace. This 15 story building, The Ark Hotel, in Changsha (north east of Guilin) was put up in 48 hours and fully completed in less than six days. Incredible! Watch the time-lapse video.
At 500m it will still be shorter that the 630m Shanghai Tower currently under construction and projected to be completed in 2014. The Shanghai Tower will become the second tallest building in the world, if only for a brief period. For more on the world's tallest buildings, those proposed or under construction, click the following links.
Formally known as the National Grand Theater, the National Centre for the Performing Arts is an oval dome surrounded by a man-made lake. A hallway beneath the lake leads into the building. The theater is one of several bold new designs constructed for the Beijing Olympics.
Capital International Airport, Terminal 3, Beijing
The new terminal building was a major part of the expansion at Beijing International Airport for the Beijing Olympics. The new terminal building complex covers an area of 280,000 square meters and reaches a height of 45 meters, with two floors underground and five floors above ground. Costs for phase one of constructions came to roughly 4.8 billion yuan.
Construction began on March 28th in 2004, and was completed in 2007, in time for the Beijing Olympics. The new terminal building alone is predicted to receive traffic of up to 35 million passengers annually by the year 2015, and the newly expanded Beijing International Airport is to become the busiest hub of air travel in the world – accommodating up to 60 million passengers and up to 1.8 million tons of air freight annually by the year 2015.
Olympic Forest Park South Gate Station in Beijing. Beijing opened the Olympic Branch subway line for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Beitucheng Station, the transfer station of Line 10 and the Olympic Branch Line
One of the most prominent buildings in Beijing of unusual design is the CCTV Building.
Not everyone was a fan of the CCTV design.
The unusual irregular grid pattern on the shell of the building is claimed to be a feature to strengthen the building against an earthquake.
China is big on 'Big Screen TVs'. There was one installed on the overhang of this building where people in the plaza below could view live broadcasts of the Olympics.
The CCTV Building is part of a larger complex.
Unfortunately before construction was completed an illegal New Year's fireworks display went wrong and burned the smaller tower housing the Television Cultural Center and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
The ‘Workers Stadium’ was the home of Olympic soccer teams during the quarter-finals and semi-finals 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. The stadium has a maximum seating capacity of 70,161 people. Built in 1959, the stadium was renovated in 2004 for the games.
The Beijing National Stadium, also known as the bird's nest was the main track and field stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics and host to the Opening and Closing ceremonies.
The Bird's Nest
In 2002 Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition. Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron collaborated with ArupSport and China Architecture Design & Research Group to win the competition.
13 Designs were finalists for the competition for what would eventually be built as the National Stadium.
