TOURIST AREA OF THE ORIENTAL PEARL TV TOWER
A brief introduction to Pudong New Area
Pudong New Area is located on the east of the Huangpu River, facing the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and bordering the Yangtze Delta. It is at the intersection of Chinese golden coast and golden waterway. It is a triangular area, with a size of 522 square kilometers and a population of more than 1.5 million.
In the early ‘90s, Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China’s reform and open-up policy, expected that there should be in Shanghai “a change every year and a big change every three years”. As a strategic decision, the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council declared the opening and development of Pudong on April 18th, 1990. it is another significant step in China’s policy of reform and opening to the outside world. Since then, Shanghai people have gone all out and worked numerous wonders on this promising piece of land. Up till now there have been set up Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone, Jinqiao Export Processing Zone, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park, Huaxia Culture & Tourism Development Zone, Sunqiao Moodern Agriculture Development Zone, etc. new municipal infrastructure projects, such as an international airport, a deep-water port and infrastructure for an information highway have been or are being carried out. The opening and development of Pudong Area is a brilliant example, which has become an icon of Shanghai’s sweeping advance to the modern cosmopolis and as economic center, trade center and financial center.
Compared with China’s other special economic zones and economic development zones, Pudong New Area has the following characteristics:
1. A free trade zone has been established in the area to promote the free entering and leaving of commodities, and capitals, which make Pudong a “free port”.
2. Foreign banks have been introduced to enliven the area’s banking services as well as related service industries.
3. Means and methods of attracting foreign and domestic investors and tourists are being improved.
4. Pudong boasts rich historical heritage and the abundance of cultural resources.
5. The whole Pudong New Area is taken as a highly-afforested urban area of the state level. It is a blending of leisure, recreation and entertainment, travel, and shopping, and has become an ideal place for international conferences and business tours.
Following its rapid development, the tourism industry of Pudong New Area is making a remarkable progress. Tourism is becoming a new point for economic growth. Besides places of historical interest, a group of new tourist attractions have been added and more tourism projects are under planning and construction. Places of interest in Pudong New Area include:
1. A forest of skyscrapers, including Jin Mao Building, Shanghai Stock Exchange Building, etc. the architects from China, Asia and all over the world are contributing their expertise to this area. More than 300 skyscrapers have sprung up, which makes you feel the beating pulse of the new century.
2. Places of tourism, entertainment and recreation, including the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the Riverside Promenade, the Central Green, the Century Park, etc. Pudong New Area is where people can relax themselves and enjoy a really good time.
3. Historical sites including the Crane Tower in Chuansha Park, the former residence off Huang yanpei and Zhang Wentian, the Qingciyang Palace, etc. The scenic spots and historical sites embody the character of the seashore. An ancient coastline, a sea wall, castle blocks across the south to the north make people recall the evolution of the seacoast and the heroic people who fought against foreign invaders.
4. Hotels including some world famous ones such as Jin Mao Grand Hyatt, Pudong Holiday Inn, Shanghai International Convention Center Hotel, Shangri-la Hotel, etc. there are now in Pudong New Area more than 30 deluxe hotels, some of which are built by five-star standard. The excellent facilities can let the guests feel cozy and comfortable.
5. Shopper’s Eden: including Shanghai No. 1 Yao-han Nextage Department Store (the biggest in Asia), Pudong Mansion, Zhangyang Commercial Street, Dongfang Commercial Street etc. the comfortable and elegant shopping environment can help you choose freely from the famous brands and exquisite products.
6. Kingdom of delicacies, including New Meilongzhen Restaurant, Peninsula Shark’s Fin Chaozhou Restaurant, East Snack Kingdom, etc. The hotels, restaurants, and snack bars are found all over Pudong New Area, offering Chinese and Western food of different standards.
A Brief Introduction to Lujiazui
The Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone is located in the Lujiazui-Huamu Complex District. This zone is in the heart of Pudong and extends within the Inner Ring Road. This is a comparatively busy section where most of Pudong’s finance, trade, information, services, science and technology, education and cultural institutions and facilities are found.
Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone is full of charm and fascinating grace. There are found in this zone the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the Jin Mao Building, the beautiful Central Green, the Riverside Promenade, the Century Park, and the Oriental Pearl Wharf.
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is unquestionably an icon of Pudong’s renaissance. Looming through the mist, like a reproduction of a classical Chinese ink painting of landscape, stands Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Its soaring height of 468 meters boldly characterizes the Lujiazui cityscape. The tower’s jagged reflection in the water mirrors Pudong’s modern development and people’s aspirations, while the new-classical edifices across the Huangpu River staunchly attest to Puxi’s old past. It should be noted that the Oriental Pearl TV Tower ranks the tallest in Asia and the third tallest in the world, only second to Toronto CN Tower (553.3m) and Moscow Ostankino Tower (533.3m).
The location of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower is very ideally chosen. It is at the tip of Lujiazui by the side of Huahngpu River, just opposite the world famous Bund of Shanghai.
The design scheme of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower was selected from 12 outstanding design schemes by nationwide well-known experts and approved by the Shanghai Municipal Government. The architects, inspired by rich imagination, arranged 13 spheres together with some ground facilities in the order of their sizes high up in the blue sky down to a carpet of green lawn like a string of pearls, while two dazzling ruby-like colossal spheres are propped high up. The harmonious entity of the tower presents at night when lights are on a picture of pearls, big and small, falling into a jade plate (quoted from “The Sontg of Pipa Girl” by Bei Juyi, a great Chinese poet in the Tang Dynasty), a scene full of poetic and artistic conception. It is not only a great attraction to visitors but also an important symbol of Shanghai.
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower, with a total floor space of 54,000 square meters, is mainly composed of the base, three gigantic columns (9 meters in diameter), the lower sphere (50 meters in diameter), the upper sphere (45 meters in diameter), and the spherical penthouse. The tower is outstanding and unique in configuration, and has good stability and aseismatic performance. It also represents the state-of-art in TV tower design, reflecting the progress of the modern science and technology. It is an exciting unity of arts and technology as well as architectural conception and structural design, and has contributed a significant effect to the world.
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is equipped with a double deck elevator which travels at 4 meters per second and two high speed elevators at 7 meters per second, which will reach the upper sphee from the ground within 40 seconds. People will get a wonderful thrill being flung from sea level to the zenith in the elevators.
The upper sphere (from 250 m to 295 m) covers 9,480 square meters with the maximum capacity of 1,400. It boasts an observation deck, a revolving restaurant, KTV rooms and a discotheque. The sightseeing deck is 263 meters in height, making it the best place to get a bird’s eye view of Waibaidu Bridge flanked by the Monument to the People’s Heroes and the gray Russian Consulate on the north; the famed Bund, together with views from nine main roads, including Beijing Road, Nanjing Road, Yan’an Road, etc, on the west; the Shanghai harbor, with ocean liners passing in and out on the south, and the Pudong New Area, with numerous skyscrapers on the east. Standing on the deck, one gets the feeling that the world is belittled.
The revolving restaurant (267m in height), which turns one revolution every one hour, is an ideal place for visitors. Experienced chefs prepare set menus as well as buffets.
The spherical penthouse is 350 meters from the ground with an area of 280 square meters. There is a sightseeing terrace and a beautifully decorated meeting hall. The tower ingeniously incorporated the image of the outer space, the space ship, the missile and the atom in its structure, unifying perfectly modern technology with oriental culture.
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower hosts 6,000 visitors on a daily average. Up till now, 118 state heads from different countries and regions have visited the tower.
Jin Mao Tower
Jin Mao Tower is situated at the heart of Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone in Pudong New Area of Shanghai, boasting a height of 420 meters and a total floor space of around 290,000 square meters.
Jin Mao Tower, an 88-story skyscraper with 3 stories underground, is, up till now, the tallest building in the Mainland of China and the 3rd tallest in the world. It is an intelligent top-grade building, which combines efficiency of function with elegant aesthetic form. With world-famous architectural design, the structural profile of the building originated in the oriental ancient pagoda, a style which represents the oriental national form of design as well as the occidental modern style of building. Jin Mao Tower, therefore, may well be considered a representative work of post-modern architecture prevalent in recent years in the world.
Levels 3-50 of Jin Mao Tower are used for offices, Levels 51-52 for mechanical and electrical equipment, Levels 53-87 for the highest preeminent 5-star deluxe hotel in the world---Grand Hyatt Shanghai. The 6-story podium is a multi-functional building, while its Level 1 is used for a conference hall and an exhibition hall, its Level 2 for ballrooms and Levels 2-6 for shopping and recreation centers.