China’s architecture miracles add glamour to world records

By Zhang Jinruo from People’s Daily

1. Puqian Bridge - China’s first cross-sea bridge that spans a geological fault line

Crossing over the Puqian Bay in the northeastern part of China’s Hainan province, Puqian Bridge is built over seismic faults, with the highest level of seismic resistance fortification and the highest level of designed wind speed in China. It is the first large-span bridge of China that crosses over a geological fault line.

Stretching 3.8 kilometers, the bridge has a designed speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

The aerial photos show a bird view of the first large-span bridge of China that crosses over a geological fault line. (Photo: ‘CFP)

1. Raffles City Chongqing – world’s first horizontal skyscraper

The world’s first “horizontal skyscraper” is about to be completed in China’s Chongqing municipality, as a huge rooftop corridor is being constructed on a group of skyscrapers. Stretching over 300 meters, the enormous glass-walled structure connects four buildings of the eight-unit skyscraper cluster at the 60th floor, turning the architectural complex into a three-dimensional “sail”.

What astonishes people’s eyes is more than the magnificent appearance. The building has the world’s highest sky bridge linking the most number of towers. The rest four skyscrapers of the architectural complex are also connected by smaller sky bridges, which enable people to walk through all of the eight buildings without going to the ground floor.

“Chinese workers have nearly completed a 2.7-billion-pound mega commercial complex with an incredible ‘horizontal skyscraper' almost 1,000 ft across the top.”

2. “Deep Pit Hotel”- the lowest-lying hotel in the world

Built inside the deep pit of an abandoned quarry, InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland, also known as the Deep Pit Hotel, extends over 80 meters down under the ground level. It has 2 floors above the ground, 17 under the ground and 2 under the water.

The National Geographic called it a “world’s architecture miracle”. CNN commented that the world’s lowest luxury hotel has injected new ideas to global architects, and the recycling renovation has made it more attractive.

4. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge: World's longest cross-sea bridge

As the world’s longest cross-sea bridge, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge boasts super high performance in multiple areas, such as road design, service duration, anti-impact and seismic resistance, as well as flood and wind resistance.

By linking Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Zhuhai and Macao Special Administrative Region, the bridge has brought closer the three places. It has cut the average time of driving from Hong Kong to Zhuhai and Macao to just 30 minutes, down from the previous 5 hours.

The bridge was described by The Guardian as one of the “seven wonders in the modern world.” It has created many of the world’s “firsts” and “bests”.