Oriental Pearl TV Tower
Futuristic latticework tower of eleven pearl-like spheres with a see-through glass skywalk high above a riverside skyline.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai starts in 1990, when the site was empty riverside land as Beijing bet on turning Shanghai's east bank into a financial hub. It follows the designers who built the tower between 1991 and 1994, reaching not for engineering charts but for a Tang-dynasty poem describing pearls falling onto jade. That image shaped eleven spheres threaded onto three slender pillars over the river. Look up at the pillars from the plaza below as you listen.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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