- published: 12 Feb 2014
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The Shanghai Tower (Chinese: 上海中心大厦; pinyin: Shànghǎi zhōngxīn dàshà) is a supertall skyscraper under construction in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. Designed by Gensler, it will be the tallest of a group of three supertall buildings in Pudong, the other two being the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Upon its completion in 2014, the building will stand approximately 632 metres (2,073 ft) high and will have 121 stories, with a total floor area of 380,000 m2 (4,090,000 sq ft).
At the time of its completion, the Shanghai Tower will be the tallest building in China, and the second-tallest in the world, surpassed only by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It will also become China's tallest structure of any kind, surpassing the 600-metre (2,000 ft) Canton Tower in Guangzhou. However, in February 2012, it was reported that another Chinese skyscraper, the Wuhan Greenland Financial Center, might be redesigned to reach a height of 636 metres (2,087 ft), thus exceeding the height of the Shanghai Tower.
Shanghai is the largest city by population of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the largest city proper by population in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities of the PRC, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010. It is a global city, with influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology, and transport. It is a major financial center and the busiest container port in the world.
Located in the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China, Shanghai sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the middle portion of the Chinese coast. The municipality borders Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces to the west, and is bounded to the east by the East China Sea.
Once a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to European recognition of its favorable port location and economic potential. The city was one of several opened to foreign trade following the British victory over China in the first opium war and the subsequent 1842 Treaty of Nanking which allowed the establishment of the Shanghai International Settlement. The city then flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became the undisputed financial hub of the Asia Pacific in the 1930s. However, with the Communist Party takeover of the mainland in 1949, the city's international influence declined. In the 1990s, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance and foreign investment to the city.