Oriental Pearl Tower – Shanghai

Hi Folks!

Ai Weiwei’s exhibition inspired me to visit Shanghai in the People’s Republic of China. In the 90’s “Made in China” was a label for a cheap product with moderate quality standards. Oriental Pearl Tower was completed in 1994. I do now know whether the tower was cheap but considering the facts that it was built in the 90’s and that it is “Made in China”, I was not surprised to find out that the tower leans at an angle of c. 10 degrees. In Europe a major construction work was screwed up in a similar manner about 700 years ago in Pisa, Italy. But I guess you learn only from your own mistakes. As I was looking at the peak of the Oriental Pearl Tower in it’s majestic height at 468 m, I got a bit dizzy in my head. Luckily a friendly officer (see the pic below) offered me his services, confiscated my bottle of huangjiu and escorted me to a night shelter. Shanghai is great and so was my headache the morning after.

– Gart