Higher, grander, costlier

• Source: The Global Times
• [22:17 May 18 2009]
• Comments

By Xie Ying

Authorities in Tongguan, Shaanxi Province, are planning to spend 17.8 million yuan ($2.6 million) on a 39-meter-high sculpture shaped like the Chinese character “Qin”.

The National Center for the Performing Arts

“The sculpture (scheduled to be unveiled in October) will be a landmark for Tongguan county, which stands at the east gate of Shaanxi Province,” Chinese Business View reported on March 17.

From the top of the sculpture, designed to promote Qin culture and attract tourists, visitors will be able to see the Yellow River, the report said.

The public, however, is yet to be impressed. Of the more than 8,000 people who took part in a poll conducted by Sohu.com in March, 92 percent said they were against it.

“In recent years, a lot of local governments have been keen to commission what they see as iconic buildings,” Workers' Daily said in a report published in March.

Zhang Yaochun, an architect and engineering professor at the Harbin Institute of Technology, said, “China has tended to set up tall buildings as a sign of its rapid development.”

Wang Jining, a designer with a Zhejiang-based design institute, said, “With bigger buildings, designers have more room to express complex characteristics and they can adopt more complicated technologies.”

“Sometimes overemphasizing the shape or height of a building is a waste of money,” Zhang said, “The National Center for the Performing Arts is a prime example.”

The National Stadium