10 Wonders of the New China It's a hotbed of innovative architecture, from diaphanous theaters to buildings heated and cooled by water
China 's current building boom is doing more than sucking up the world's supply of steel -- it's creating a stage for some of today's boldest architecture and engineering. Take a tour of the 10 of the most intriguing examples. 1. The Commune, Beijing First phase completed 2002, expansion scheduled for completion in 2010
Even if the Commune didn't sit beside that wonder of the ancient world, the Great Wall of China , it would still qualify as a wonder. The complex includes houses by 12 of Asia 's leading architects. It was conceived by married real-estate developers Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi, who gave each architect a $1 million budget. Shigeru Ban, the Japanese architect most famous for the paper houses he designed for refugees of the Kobe earthquake, designed the Furniture House, featuring the laminated plywood typically used for modular furniture, and China's Yung Ho Chang created the Split House, which takes the idea of a boxy dwelling, slices it in half, and spreads it out like a fan.
The Commune is now operated as a boutique hotel by the Germany luxury hotel group Kempinski, which is responsible for an upcoming expansion, which will feature 21 homes (including replications of the originals). One element will remain untouched in the new development: the Commune's private pedestrian trails, which trace untouched sections of the Great Wall. 2. Beijing International Airport , Beijing Foster & Partners. Under construction, to be completed in late 2007
According to the U.S. Embassy to China, the country will be building 108 new airports between 2004 and 2009 -- including what will be the world's largest: the Beijing International Airport, designed by Foster & Partners. Set to open at the end of 2007, in time for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the airport terminal will cover more than 1 million square meters, giving it a bigger footprint than the Pentagon.
It's designed to handle 43 million passengers a year initially and 55 million by 2015, figures that will probably push the new facility into the ranks of the top 10 busiest airports, going by the 2004 numbers from the Airports Council International. Given the scale and traffic, Foster & Partners focused on the traveler's experience, making sure that walking distances are short, for instance.
Building on Foster's experience designing Hong Kong 's new mega-airport, the massive Chek Lap Kok, the sprawling Beijing terminal is housed under a single roof. To help passengers distinguish between different sections of the vast space, skylights cast different shades of yellow and red light across walls -- a subtle but innovative navigational aid. The architects also kept sustainability in mind: An environmental-control system reduces carbon emissions, and skylights situated on a south-east axis lessen solar heat, keeping the building cool. 3. Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects. Under construction, completion scheduled for 2008
Rising in the Lujiazhui financial district in Pudong, the Shanghai World Financial Center is a tower among towers. The elegant 101-story skyscraper will be (for a moment, at least) the world's tallest when completed in early 2008.
One of the biggest challenges of building tall is creating a structure that can withstand high winds. The architects devised an innovation solution to alleviate wind pressure by adding a rectangular cut-out at the building's apex. Not only does the open area help reduce the building's sway but it also will be home to the world's highest outdoor observation deck -- a 100th-floor vista that will take vertigo to new heights. 4. National Swimming Center , Beijing PTW and Ove Arup. Under construction, completion scheduled for 2008
The striking exterior of the National Swimming Center , being constructed for the 2008 Olympic Games and nicknamed, the "Water Cube," is made from panels of a lightweight form of Teflon that transforms the building into an energy-efficient greenhouse-like environment. Solar energy will also be used to heat the swimming pools, which are designed to reuse double-filtered, backwashed pool water that's usually dumped as waste.
Excess rainwater will also be collected and stored in subterranean tanks and used to fill the pools. The complex engineering system of curvy steel frames that form the structure of the bubble-like skin are based on research into the structural properties of soap bubbles by two physicists at Dublin 's Trinity College . The unique structure is designed to help the building withstand nearly any seismic disruptions. 5. Central Chinese Television CCTV, Beijing OMA/Ole Scheeren and Rem Koolhaas. Under construction, scheduled for completion in 2008
The design of the new Central Chinese Television (CCTV) headquarters defies the popular conception of a skyscraper -- and it broke Beijing's building codes and required approval by a special review panel. The standard systems for engineering gravity and lateral loads in buildings didn't apply to the CCTV building, which is formed by two leaning towers, each bent 90 degrees at the top and bottom to form a continuous loop.
The result: The water-circulation system serves as a giant radiator in the winter and cooling system in the summer. It has no boilers to supply heat, no electric air conditioners to supply cool. The apartments also feature gray-water recycling -- a process that's just starting to catch on in Beijing in much smaller buildings -- to filter waste water from kitchen sinks and wash basins back into toilets. 7. Dongtan Eco City, Dongtan Masterplan by Arup, for the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corp. In planning stages, first phase to be completed in 2010
Developed by the Shanghai Industrial investment Corp., Dongtan Eco City , roughly the size of Manhattan , will be the world's first fully sustainable cosmopolis when completed in 2040. Like Manhattan , it's situated on an island -- the third-largest in China . Located on the Yangtze River, Dongtan is within close proximity of the bustle of Shanghai .
By the time the Shanghai Expo trade fair opens in 2010, the city's first phase should be completed, and 50,000 residents will call Dongtan home-sweet-sustainable-home. The goals to be accomplished in the next five years: systems for water purification, waste management, and renewable energy. An infrastructure of roads will connect the former agricultural land with Shanghai . 8. Olympic Stadium, Beijing Herzog & de Meuron. Under construction, to be completed in 2008
Sports stadiums have long followed the enduring design of one of the original wonders of the world, Rome 's Coliseum. Herzog & de Meuron's National Stadium in Beijing is an attempt to rethink the classic sports-arena layout for more ecologically correct times.
The Swiss architects (of Tate Modern fame) wanted to provide natural ventilation for the 91,000-seat structure -- perhaps the largest "eco-friendly" sports stadium designed to date. To achieve this, they set out to create a building that could function without a strictly enclosed shell, yet also provide constant shelter for the audience and athletes alike.
To solve these design problems, they looked to nature for inspiration. The stadium's outer grid resembles a bird's nest constructed of delicately placed branches and twigs. Each discrete space within the facility, from restrooms to restaurants, is constructed as an independent unit within the outer lattice -- making it possible to encase the entire complex with an open grid that allows for natural air circulation. The architects also incorporated a layer of translucent membrane to fill any gaps in the lacy exterior. 9. Donghai Bridge , Shanghai/Yangshan Island China Zhongtie Major Bridge Engineering Group, Shanghai # 2 Engineering Co., Shanghai Urban Construction Group. Officially opened in December, 2005
A key phase in the development of the world's largest deep-sea port was completed when China 's first cross-sea bridge -- the 20-mile, six-lane Donghai Bridge -- was officially opened in December, 2005. Stretching across the East China Sea , the graceful cable-stay structure connects Shanghai to Yangshan Island, set to become China 's first free-trade port (and the world's largest container port) upon its completion in 2010.
To provide a safer driving route in the typhoons and high waves known to hit the region, Donghai Bridge is designed in an S-shape. The structure, reported by Shanghai Daily to have cost $1.2 billion, will hold its title of China's -- and one of the world's -- longest over-sea bridge for only a couple of years, though. In 2008, the nearby 22-mile Hangzhou Bay Transoceanic Bridge, which also begins (or ends, depending on your journey) in Shanghai , will earn the superlative. 10. National Grand Theater, Beijing Paul Andreu and ADP. Under construction, to be completed in 2008
Located near Tiananmen Square , the 490,485-square-foot glass-and-titanium National Grand Theater, scheduled to open in 2008, seems to float above a man-made lake. Intended to stand out amid the Chinese capital's bustling streets and ancient buildings, the structure has garnered criticism among Bejing's citizens for clashing with classic landmarks like the Monument to the People's Heroes (dedicated to revolutionary martyrs), the vast home of the National People's Congress, or Tiananmen Gate itself (the Gate of Heavenly Peace).
French architect Paul Andreu is no stranger to controversy -- or to innovative forms. A generation ago, in 1974, his untraditional design for Terminal 1 of Paris 's Charles de Gaulle airport was criticized for its unusual curves, yet Andreu's groundbreaking, futuristic building later was seen to distinguish de Gaulle from more generic European and international air hubs. (The same airport's Terminal 2E, also designed by Andreu, gained attention in 2004 when it collapsed, tragically killing four people.)
Beijing 's daring National Grand Theater is as much a spectacle as the productions that will be staged inside in the 2,416-seat opera house, the 2,017-seat concert hall, and the 1,040-seat theater. At night, the semi-transparent skin will give passersby a glimpse at the performance inside one of three auditoriums, a feature that highlights the building's public nature.
China still has to do something about the thousands and thousands of dirt poor farmers who can't make a living. Not to mention the fact that the Chinese government don't allow these people to stay in the major cities. I'm afraid China is still a Christsmas tree with a rotten trunk, especially on the issue of human rights.
wow. thanks for posting them!
woodrow, i noticed that too about the architects being almost all foreigners.
wouldn't china have their own talented architects?
each man thinks of his own fleas as gazelles
question authority
china was able to get 400 million of it citizens out of poverty in the last decades
Now, for the other 900 Million
Really though, some amazing stuff, although I've seen better in Dubai
Kidding, I hope to see the 2008 Olympics in Beijing!
"This world is a blank price tag, and whatever value you put on it, is what its worth to you. I have made this world priceless and worthless, so therefore I have placed my value in the afterlife."
Whatsoever China can beat USA with ONE blow.... Maybe Muslim nations should ally themselves with China, maybe let China build their military bases in Muslim nations which would make USA goes
Imagine, if Lebanon allows China to build military bases in Lebanon - WOULD ISRAEL DARE TO ATTACK LEBANON?
Whatsoever China can beat USA with ONE blow.... Maybe Muslim nations should ally themselves with China, maybe let China build their military bases in Muslim nations which would make USA goes
Imagine, if Lebanon allows China to build military bases in Lebanon - WOULD ISRAEL DARE TO ATTACK LEBANON?
I don't know, but I think that perhaps you ought to be a little worried about that. After all if China could beat the USA and project power beyond its own waters, they might find something to do closer to home - like have a chat with the Malaysian government about May 13. Do you really want that?
Even Muslims might discover the Americans are not the world's worst super power.
Le coeur a ses raisons, que la raison ne connait pas. - Blaise Pascal
Whatsoever China can beat USA with ONE blow.... Maybe Muslim nations should ally themselves with China, maybe let China build their military bases in Muslim nations which would make USA goes
Imagine, if Lebanon allows China to build military bases in Lebanon - WOULD ISRAEL DARE TO ATTACK LEBANON?
In all honesty, I think the complete lack of freedom of religion in China and it's state enforced atheism should worry Muslims.
Besides, why would China want to fight Israel half a world away?
I don't know, but I think that perhaps you ought to be a little worried about that. After all if China could beat the USA and project power beyond its own waters, they might find something to do closer to home - like have a chat with the Malaysian government about May 13. Do you really want that?
Even Muslims might discover the Americans are not the world's worst super power.
May 13 is something for old people, we younger people dont really care.
Russia, India, China. All have been superpowers throughout the existence of Jerusalem. To them, it is worthless. Jerusalem is only of worth to Islamic and Christian empires; Jerusalem is not a trophy for just any superpower, but a religious symbol that has meaning only for some.
"This world is a blank price tag, and whatever value you put on it, is what its worth to you. I have made this world priceless and worthless, so therefore I have placed my value in the afterlife."
May 13 is something for old people, we younger people dont really care.
And yet. Chinese people remember it. Malaysia discriminates heavily and systematically against ethnic Chinese. So far the Chinese in Malaysia have been willing to accept this. There are other problems with crime, for instance, that affect Chinese more than anyone else. As China become more powerful do you think that the Chinese Malaysians will not think of themselves as part of a larger "Ummah" than just Malaysia?
There are some countries that ought to be very worried about the rise of China. Malaysia and Indonesia are two of them.
Le coeur a ses raisons, que la raison ne connait pas. - Blaise Pascal
And yet. Chinese people remember it. Malaysia discriminates heavily and systematically against ethnic Chinese. So far the Chinese in Malaysia have been willing to accept this. There are other problems with crime, for instance, that affect Chinese more than anyone else. As China become more powerful do you think that the Chinese Malaysians will not think of themselves as part of a larger "Ummah" than just Malaysia?
There are some countries that ought to be very worried about the rise of China. Malaysia and Indonesia are two of them.
Malaysia should embrace China!!! Good for economy and security!!! But are all Malaysian Chinese prefer China to be strong powerful nation. Because some of them are pro-Taiwan, pro-USA etc. There are many Hoklo people in Penang complete with their own Taiwanese school (with Taiwan's flag), are they also prefer China to be powerful nation than US?
Furthermore, what is May 13 (Chinese view)? IS it like .........important?
In the heavens and the earth there are certainly signs for the believers. And in your creation and all the creatures He has scattered about there are signs for people with certainty.
(Surat al-Jathiyah: 3-4)
COMMUNIST CHINA'S POLICY OF OPPRESSION IN
EAST TURKESTAN
Whenever he holds the upper hand, he goes about the earth corrupting it, destroying (peoples') crops and animals.
God does not love corruption.
(Qur'an, 2:205)
INTRODUCTION
China entered the twentieth century as the remains of an empire fragmented and crushed under pressure from especially Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Russia. After imperial rule had been overthrown, no powerful central authority was established for decades. When the Communist Party came to power in 1949, China soon turned into a state of fear. That process cost the lives of tens of millions of people because of the repressive and totalitarian methods the communists used to enforce their bloody ideology. The Chinese Communist Party resorted to violence to remain in power, and implemented one of the most savage and ruthless form of communism ever, enforcing one single way of living and thinking for the entire Chinese people. Throughout that period, those who refused to abide by the rules of their communist leaders were ruthlessly exterminated.
It is commonly assumed that the savage implementation of communism has come to an end. People no longer receive food in return for vouchers, no longer are required to wear uniforms, nor suffer torture because they are unable to learn Mao's "Little Red Book" by heart. Yet communism, adapted by the regime to the new world order, is still alive and well in all its ruthlessness.
In the eyes of the Communist Party, people are of value only as long as they can produce, and are allowed to think only within boundaries set by the Communist Party. They can freely express only thoughts in harmony with the party. The labor camps that exist through China, the system that humiliates and exploits millions of people in those camps, the mass executions in full public view, the torture methods widely employed in the prisons and the sale of the internal organs of those condemned to death, all reveal the ugly face of the communist administration. Despite all this, however, for the last 20 years a number of media outlets have been spreading the propaganda that China is rapidly preceding down a liberal and democratic path. One important point is often ignored: The fact that China has moved to capitalist practices in the economic field and has opened its gates to foreign investors in a number of areas, does not mean that there has also been a change in the country's political structure and ideology. On the contrary, the inhuman practices still common demonstrate that nothing has changed in the mentality of the ruling Communist Party. This will be clarified with a great many examples in subsequent chapters of this book.
A major area of communist savagery is East Turkestan, home to the Muslim Uighur Turks. Located at the westernmost point of China, East Turkestan has been under occupation for the last two centuries or so, and for the last 50 years in particular has suffered great oppression from the despotic regime of the communist Chinese administration. As a result of Chinese propaganda, East Turkestan is known to the world as "Xinjiang," or "Sinkiang" meaning "new borders" in Chinese, and most people are very unaware of the human drama going on there. Yet East Turkestan, the majority of whose population are Muslims of Uighur origin, is the scene of violence and oppression by the communist Chinese administration, the like of which is found in no other region of China. Torture, executions, labor camps and religious oppression have long been features of daily life in East Turkestan.
In recent years, there has been much talk about the increased freedom and liberalization in the economic arena in China. Yet the freedom is limited to specific areas, and the cruel and oppressive system in China has, in fact, not changed.
Muslims are arrested, kept for months (or even years) in Chinese prisons, which are notorious for torture, solely because they want to live by their religion. Many of those who fight for freedom and democracy for Turkestan are executed. Moreover, China's assimilationist policies have prevented the majority Muslim population of East Turkestan from speaking their own language, living by their own culture, from going on the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), performing their daily ritual prayers and fasting, and even forbidden them to determine their family size. The Muslims of East Turkestan expect people of good conscience all over the world to help them wage a war of ideas to bring communist oppression there to an end and make a concerted effort to inform the whole world about their plight.
China has turned East Turkestan into a closed region by restricting all means of communication, preventing the true dimensions of their human drama from being heard by the outside world. Yet that is no excuse for forgetting and behaving as if nothing were going on. For this reason, it is most important that all possible means be taken to stop the silence that prevails in the whole world on the subject of East Turkestan. If the true dimension of the inhumanity going on behind closed doors is revealed, this will not only help the wronged people to have their voices heard, but will also attract the world's attention to bring justice to East Turkestan.
The aim of this book is both to identify the basic causes of this communist oppression that has been going on all over China for more than half a century, and to make the voice of the wronged people of East Turkestan heard. Initiatives taken to allow the Muslims of East Turkestan to enjoy peace and security can only succeed if the fundamental causes of their oppression are documented and brought to the attention of the world.
This work documents that the fundamental reason behind the oppression in East Turkestan is the materialist philosophy and communist ideology that dominate the Chinese state. The violence caused by materialist philosophy, which regards life as a fight for survival (and suggests that progress is only possible by means of conflict) can only be eliminated if people turn to, and live by, the morality God commands. God has commanded people to live by justice, tolerance, love, compassion, respect, sacrifice, sharing, self-denial, and forgiveness. God has made it clear that ethnic differences are no justification for conflict, and that people must respect each others' races, languages, and beliefs. The acceptance of that moral code world wide is the only way to secure peace and tolerance. An intellectual war must be waged against the materialist ideology that is the fundamental support behind those who have oppressed others. For this reason this is the most important area required for peace and justice to prevail.
To oppose the oppression and injustice in the world, efforts must be made to spread the morality of the Qur'an, which is the real solution to this problem. A new age will dawn with the spreading of the morality of the Qur'an, by the will of God, in which injustice and oppression will be replaced by peace, security, and justice. The Qur'an bears good tidings about that new age:
God has promised those of you who believe and do right actions that He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them successors, and will firmly establish for them their religion with which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security… (Qur'an, 24:55)
The people of East Turkestan have been crushed by the repressive communist system for more than half a century. Muslims are prevented from living their religion, and are trying to survive under particularly difficult conditions.
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10 Wonders of New China
Whatsoever China can beat USA with ONE blow.... Maybe Muslim nations should ally themselves with China, maybe let China build their military bases in Muslim nations which would make USA goes
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