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Subscribe to RSSA once-sleepy village in the countryside of eastern China celebrated its 50th anniversary Saturday by unveiling an incongruous addition to its skyline: a skyscraper taller than the Chrysler Building.
The 74-story Longxi International Hotel towers 328 meters (1,076 feet) above the village of Huaxi and cost 3 billion yuan ($472 million) to build, according to the state-owned China Daily newspaper.
AFP - Getty Images
An aerial photo of the Longxi International Hotel, which stands at 328 meters high and cost $472 million to build, in Huaxi, which is still classified as a village, in east China's Jiangsu province on September 24.
"The building exudes wealth and excess," wrote The Guardian's Jonathan Watts, who was given a tour before the official opening. One of the most impressive features is a one-tonne gold statue of an ox, said to be worth $47.2 million.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
A woman stands next to a gold statue of an ox during the official inauguration of the Longxi hotel on Oct. 8. The one-tonne statue greets visitors at a viewing area on the 60th-floor of the tower.
It may model itself on Dubai, but Huaxi is still officially classified as a village. Its original residents, just 2,000 families, have shared in the bonanza of its transformation. Reuters reports that they each have at least $250,000 in the bank, as well as enjoying universal health care and free education.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
Officials attend the inauguration ceremony of the new skyscraper on October 8. Officials from elsewhere in China tour Huaxi to find out how this once sleepy village, with just 576 residents in the 1950s, could have become so rich.
The rise of Huaxi, which now operates as a conglomerate with interests in steel, shipping, tobacco and textiles, has drawn tens of thousands of migrant workers, Watts reports, but their comparitively meager earnings have left them on the outside looking in.
What remains unclear is where the hotel, with its 826 bedrooms and dining facilities for 5,000 guests, will find its patrons. Local officials confidently predict a tourist rush, but if it does not materialize then their golden ox may come to resemble nothing no much as a great white elephant in the sky.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
Guests attend a dinner at the new hotel before its official inauguration on October 8.
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I do business with China. They are great business people with high integrity. The US companies I dealt with lie, cheat and do not want my business. China ROCKS! They are now the super power of the world building bullet trains across their nation, stealth fighters and putting man on the moon. They own us on paper.
China has earned their wealth and business. I have no problem with them taking over our top spot which we do not deserve. In fact I have left the USA. I am ashamed to be an American. The Christian right has taken over our country. Lost my wife to this nut bag cult. Worship some dead guy on a stick? Sarah Palin for President? Really? I mean REALLY! The USA now sucks....good luck and good bye Christian Nation!
Have it if you like it.
I have been doing business in China for over 20 years, lived there for 10, speak Mandarin (more or less). If you haven't been screwed in business by the Chinese, you must be in some very low level business. Maybe something in single location food service? Or you just sell them something they need but they haven't figured a way to jump you out of the deal yet?
Nah, the truth is, there's no place that's truly good. It all comes down to which flavor bullsh*t you like best.
The U.S. might do well in this new global arena to learn math and science. Well, maybe our grandchildren will, if we can afford them a college education.
America will never lose the number one spot. We have more than enough nuclear warheads to ensure this is so. Anytime you and your Chinese pals want to test us, BRING IT.
F@#k china and their atrocious human rights violations!!!! We can end them anytime we want, and it is almost that time.
test
A classic, massive property bubble.
If you could see up close how right you are, you might be amazed. Much of what has been built is still unoccupied, underutilized, or downright dormant.
I was in real estate development and steel manufacturing in China for 10 years. We built buildings in a joint venture with a prominent government development company. Sometimes they didn't even know what the building should be designed for. Just a flashy face, and a big empty interior, and they would decide later. Maybe a high-priced clothing store and another fancy restaurant on the first floor, that's it.
On the other hand they have now completed their 4th 5-year plan. So as much as it seems dumb, it's according to plan.
Here, we plan as far as the next guy who gets elected on the BS promises he doesn't intend to keep. And then we plan from there, mostly how much we don't like that lack of planning and that guy we elected, and how to get another guy who is better.
No, until we make major structural changes in our government, we are destined to be in a directionless, stagnant economy that just leaves an increasing number of good hard-working people behind as it slides downhill.
At least the unending building boom creates jobs and keeps the money flowing.
And for what it's worth, I can get a job in China even at the age of 62. I have worth there. I can get medical care and housing that won't destroy me. That's more than I can say for the current state of affairs in the U.S., as much as I don't like to have to say that.
The air looks toxic...you need a gas mask to live there.
Remember when America had the tallest buildings, the best infrastructure, a space program, etc.
Then the Baby Boomers took over and everything went to crap.
The me generation is now the Tea Party, many of them retired union workers with good pensions and now they want to light a match to the ladder that they climbed up on.
"Too much"?? Who cares? It's in China!
And this one building costs just a little bit more than the whole American Jobs Act.
With all this wealth - let China go out and help someone - like a flooded village etc
tee that ball up...its a par 3 hole...
how does one unveil such a thing... "hey guys, did anyone look west today?"
I bet the ladies like it...size matters;)
When do you neetwetts out there will finaly learn that we no longer are able to manufacture anithing in this country and NOTHING IS REALY MADE in this country ? It all start with bolts and nuts! And the last nuts and bolts factory move to Mexico 3 years ago! Now ...go figure !
Looks like a pimped out water tower to me. That ox is just fake gold plated plastic, like everything chinese made cheap and junk.
Some products made in China are much better than the USA. You are ignorant! this is why China is kicking our butts. The USA is making crap......
I have yet to find that totally true. If the US makes a junk quality of a certain product, the Chinese version is either a copyright ifringement or a worse piece of junk. I will buy any other coutries product before China.
I turn over what I buy nowadays. If it has made in China on the back I put it down. Someone asked what other country has market penetration in the US that China does? How about the US.
If more people bought made in USA and not made in China, it sure would help. I am even willing to spend more.
I am tired of the lead, dog killing melanine and every other bad for human ingrediant that China is throwing in their products.
I buy millions of decks of cards from China. Better quality than the US, always perfect, they do not lie and 1/3 rd the cost! Why would I do business with the USA?
KEM cards by Kardwell. US company.
Haveyou not ever heard of you get what you pay for???
I know KEM cards...junk and very expensive.
I turn over what I buy nowadays. If it has made in China on the back I put it down. Someone asked what other country has market penetration in the US that China does? How about the US.
If more people bought made in USA and not made in China, it sure would help. I am even willing to spend more.
I am tired of the lead, dog killing melanine and every other bad for human ingrediant that China is throwing in their products.
A great example of why we, Americans, must pay off our national debt and stop sending interest payments to the Chinese. Please raise our taxes and get rid of the national debt.
China looks like the result of a drunken shopping spree.
This building is worthless as all it does is tell you they have more money than they know what to do with.
Come to think of it the kids that are attacking Wall Street should go to China and spout their BS there then just move right in. Make sure to tell the Chinese that everything should be free before they harvest your organs and ship your dead ass back to the States to your parents.
A golden bull eh, I wouldn't wanna be around when Moses finds that.
Man, you people going on and on about the "solid" gold statue: the article does NOT state that is is solid! Read it again!
Man, you people going on and on about the "solid" gold statue: the article does NOT state that is is solid! Read it again!
LetMeExplain agreed. Look the people in China simplly pushed to be in the world economy. They wanted a better life for themselves, who would not...
The worked damn hard and they made it. its that simple.
everyone's criticizing the building lol, it's their culture, they can build the building
in their style. I know I'd be static if a building that size debuted in my
village (if I lived in one).I'm not gonna sit and start wondering ways how I
can hate on the Chinese for actually building stuff in their turf, I'm going to
start wondering how I can get my country to start building towers hat are bigger and
better on rural and poor areas in my own small way. Personally I think it looks like a rather interesting
tower, and I hope it brings jobs to them in that village. The only problem I
see is that it may overwhelm some of the less rich tourist, because of how luxurious it may look, especially with
that giant ox statue in the front.
hating the communists isn't going to create jobs.
how about you people grow some balls and stand up to the greedy bankers, the big corps and the corrupted politicians? ah that's right, there's not much you can do. boo freaking hoo!
In response to LetMeExplain:
Give it time, China is not building their military forces, building new equipment as in mega carriers, for looks. It's only a matter of time before they begin to flex their ever growing muscle. The majority of the mega cash influx to the country is, in large part, directly from the U.S. This may come back to bite us in the back side. Only time will tell and could very well be sooner rather than later.
Oh, and as far as the inference about invading other countries goes, would you rather the battle be fought on U.S. soil or on the "home teams" soil? After all, it was brought to us on our soil, we are just returning the favor in OUR own best interests. You can't have it both ways unless you wish to be a direct target in your own home.
Re: "kids attacking wall street". I believed in America and joined the Army (2 tours Vietnam). I trusted all my retirement savings (401K) to Wall Street. The 401K is now worth less than the amount I put in. That's what I call betrayal. Those kids out there in front of Wall Street a speaking for me and every other American who made the mistake of trusting Wall Street.