Chinese Archimage Phenomena

Previously, CAIP introduce the tempo l'oeil in Shanghai. The facade of the abandoned building is covered by printed windows, which can be considered as a parody of architecture. In fact, obviously, no one cares about architecture and its representation. The only theme of the abandoned building is supposed to be propoganda of politics since it is just next to the secret political conference place - Ma Le villa on Shanxi Rd of Shanghai and it is a good eye-catched place both from ground or from the inner ring highway. As expected, the facade is now changed into 海宝(Haibao, literally means baby of the sea), the mascot of EXPO2010 in only one night. [via expo2010china ]

He Jingtang, China Pavilion, Shanghai EXPO 2010 China Pavilion of Shanghai EXPO 2010 was released a while ago, titled "Crown of the East", designed by a senior Chinese architect He Jingtang , but now there are some interesting discussions about it on abbs, the world biggest architectural forum, of course in China. The main issue is about: Where is the idea from? Is it representative of China after all? Many posters dig out the Japanese pavilion for EXPO '92, Sevilla, Spain , designed Tadao Ando . So, where are the both inspired from? Is His inspiration from Ando? Or is Ando's from Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.) in China? What we are interested in that no matter the architect He or the debaters on abbs, swamped in opticality again. Todao Ando, Japanese pavilion for EXPO '92, Sevilla, Spain [via abbs ] Comment by Yan known as ID Bendangwuren on ABBS The competition of the pavilion undoubtly results in a typical Chinese way. As a citizen, maybe we could just think thi...

It is a keyboard like building in Shanghai. It looks like a professional technician school, in digital media technology. address：上海市董恒甫职业技术学校/上海市徐汇区蒲汇塘路99号 [via Augapfel & dhfz ]

"If tourism officials have their way, visitors to Beijing in 2009 will not only have to climb the Great Wall of China, but also the Great Wheel, says Ben Blanchard of Reuters . At 208 metres tall, the Great Wheel will be the world's largest ferris wheel — higher and bigger than both the London Eye and the Singapore Flyer which opens in March next year. Our eyes were drawn to these lines in the Reuters report: The giant ferris wheel will have 48 air conditioned observation capsules, each of which can carry up to 40 passengers,... Air-conditioned capsules? Without the a/c, we're not sure how many tourists would want to ride in the Wheel. The smog in Beijing literally takes your breath away. ...and on a good day even the Great Wall is expected to be visible in the mountains to Beijing's north. On a bad day, we assume NOTHING will be visible." -- Shanghaiist [via shanghaiist and yahoo ]

A white-collar worker, in Xiamen厦门, have worked for 8 years, earning much more than the average, however with his saving he only can afford 5 square-meter (50 square-foot) apartment. Thus, a young man, Lv Guohua吕国华, built his own 5 square-meter “luxury house豪宅”. After the construction was complete, this “the spokesman of Chinese housing slave中国房奴第一代言人” spent his first “golden week (week long Chinese National days)”. “It is so pathetic to spend life in such 5 sqm”, some visitor says. But someone claims, “I feel so happy about him, because I’ve been working for so many year and I don’t even have such 5 sqm.” It is a 2-story house of 3.2 m high. Mr. Lv could not stand straight at the 2nd floor because it’s only 1.3m high and Lv is 1.73m high. This little house situates in front of a big shopping mall and between 30-story residential towers in Canghai district of City Xiamen, Fujian Province. [via south daily ]

Thames Town may look exactly like an English country village, but it's actually 25 miles southwest of Shanghai. It's one of nine new towns Shanghai planners hope will relieve population pressures in the city center. The town's market square even has its own statue of Winston Churchill. Yang Jinghui and Zi Haiying pose for wedding photographs in front of Thames Town's church. Even Thames Town's security guards have special touches to their uniforms that seem designed to evoke English pageantry. INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Learn about the nine foreign-style new towns in Shanghai's suburbs. [via  npr ] Shanghai's city planners are carrying out an ambitious scheme to relieve population pressure: They are resettling 500,000 people in nine new towns in the suburbs. Each is built in a distinctive style, including an Italian town with canals based on Venice and a German town designed by Albert Speer, the son of Hitler's favorite architect. Thames Town is one of these n...

"This controversial 326 metre high elevator takes you up the side of one of the many enormous cliffs in zhangjiajie, china - the lower 1/3 running from a cavern through the rock, the top 2/3 rising outside to the summit - and is the highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world. the elevator has an uncertain future due to the potential harm caused to the surrounding landscape." --deputydog [via deputydog ]