China's largest city is cracking under the weight of its own success.
The Shanghai Tower (far right) under construction Image: Arend Vermazeren |
Large cracks in the ground have started to appear around Lujiazui, home to Shanghai's tallest buildings, as the land baulks under the weight of progress.
After a series of worrying photos were released on China's popular 'Weibo' micro-blogging service, the cracks instantly became a hot topic among netizens.
Some of the fissures were up to 8 metres long, 4cm wide with a 5cm drop from one side to the other. Built on marshland, mainland China's busiest financial centre has sunk over two metres since 1921 and continues to sink by around 1.5cm per year.
According to the China Daily, the cracks are “nothing to worry about” and are a result of the settlement of a foundation ditch. An independent team of experts are said to be “closely and constantly” monitoring the growing fractures.
Shanghai's grand skyline includes the Oriental Pearl Tower (468m Jinmao Tower (421m) and the Shanghai World Financial Centre (492m) and, as previously reported by OATS, will soon be joined by the Shanghai Tower, which is set to become the second-tallest building in the world at 632m. The construction will cost an estimated $2.2 billion and will be completed in 2014.
If we are to believe Barclays Skyscraper Index, which examined the “unhealthy correlation” between building skyscrapers and subsequent financial crashes, the cracks could be a bad omen for China's most populous city. Shanghai is especially vulnerable to the bubbling property market, which the government hopes will cool by 15-25% this year.
Other notable examples of Barclays' “unhealthy correlation” include the Empire State Building (1931 which was followed by the Great Depression (1929-33 the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia (1997) that preceded the Asian Financial Crisis and, most recently, the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifi in Dubai - which heralded the start of economic downturn in the country.