Shanghai's Changing Skyline

In his concluding chapter, Tim Harford in his book The Undercover Economist expressed amazement at how the city of Shanghai had transformed in the decade since he had last visited.

He noted: "In just a decade, the builders of Shanghai had put up a fair imitation of Manhattan. What New Yorkers would have made of it, I don't know. It made us Londoners feel like country bumpkins."

In his description of the several prominent buildings dotting the skyline of China's most metropolitan city, Harford noted that "not every design was in the best of taste: one had a domed penthouse that looked like it had been stolen from the set of a fifties flying-saucer movie." I wonder which building he was referring to.

Anyway, I can certainly relate to Harford's amazement at how fast Shanghai had changed. I remember that Pudong Shangri-La was once the tallest building in Pudong (浦东) as recently as in 1999. But by 2004, it had already been overshadowed by other taller and more prominent-looking skyscrapers that I had trouble locating it when I crossed over to Pudong from Puxi (浦西).