Oriental Pearl Tower

Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower
Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower
东方明珠广播电视塔
	The Oriental Pearl Tower in May 2017
General information
Type	Communication, hotel, observation, restaurant
Location	Shanghai
Coordinates	31°14′30″N 121°29′41″E / 31.241669°N 121.494717°E
Construction started	July 30, 1991
Completed	1994
Opened	1995
Height
Antenna spire	468 m (1,535 ft)
Top floor	351 m (1,152 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	Equivalent of a 103 story building
Lifts/elevators	6
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Shanghai Modern Architectural Design Co. Ltd.
Developer	Shanghai Oriental Group Co. Ltd.
References

The Oriental Pearl Radio & Television Tower^[a] is a TV tower in Shanghai. It is located in on the banks of the Huangpu River, in Lujiazui, Pudong and is opposite of the Bund. Its main architects were Jiang Huanchen, Lin Benlin, and Zhang Xiulin. Construction began on July 30, 1991, and the tower was completed on October 1, 1994, before being put into use on May 1, 1995.

History

Planning

On August 25, 1983, the idea of building a new TV tower was first brought up in a broadcast considering the overwhelming situation of the existing TV transmission tower at that time. On November 17 of the same year, a clear thought of building a TV tower of approximately 400 metres (1,300 ft) high around Lujiazui area was presented in "The Sixth Five-Year Plan and Seventh Five-Year Plan for the Development of Shanghai's Radio and Television Industry and the Vision for the Next Ten Years."^[5]

On March 25, 1984, the proposal of building the new TV tower is officially made in the Congress report. Later in 1984, the proposal was approved. After repeated investigation and research, the site location was finalized to between Lujiazui and Pudong Park, with the consideration of echoing with the Bund on the other side of the Huangpu River.

On August 23, 1984, the Shanghai Radio and Television Bureau officially made the site selection report. In October 1986, the report was finalized and submitted to the National Planning Commission, with the building height initially set at 450 metres (1,480 ft). In January 1987, the report was approved. In January 1988, the Shanghai Radio and Television Bureau submitted a feasibility report for the TV tower and got approved in July.^[5]

In May 1988, three top design institutes in China were invited to participate in a design contest for the TV tower. In September 1988, a total of 12 designs were submitted and evaluated, and the "Oriental Pearl" design from East China Architectural Design Institute was finally chosen.^[5] With the consideration of the location and historical role of the tower, the designer chose to connect 15 spheres of different sizes with pillars as the main tower body. The artistic conception came from the sentence "big and small pearls falling on a jade plate(大珠小珠落玉盘)" of a poem "Pi Pa Xing(琵琶行)" by Bai Juyi, intended to emphasize the oriental cultural atmosphere and the artistic sentiment of Shanghai.^[6]

Construction and opening

On July 30, 1991, the foundation of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower was officially laid and construction started.^[7]

On December 14, 1993, the main tower, which measured 350 metres (1,100 ft), was capped. The construction only took 27 months, which was 105 days shorter than the expected time. At 12:12 a.m. on May 1, 1994, the steel antenna with a length of 110 metres (360 ft) and a weight of 450 metric tons (500 short tons) was successfully installed in position after 11 days of ascension.^[6] On October 1 of the same year, the ground floor interior was completed. The sightseeing facilities and lighting system started operating, and construction was marked as completed^[5]^[7]

On May 1, 1995, the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower was held, and the tower was officially opened to the public.^[8] The first signal was launched, which broadcast 5 sets of TV programs and FM radios to the public.^[6]

Awards

In 1995, 15 foreign heads of government visited the tower.^[8] At the end of the year, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower was rated as one of the Top Ten New Landscapes in Shanghai.^[9]

In 1996, another 35 foreign heads of government and 30 groups of foreign minister-level government officials visited the tower.^[8]

In 1999, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower won the first prize of Shanghai Excellence of Design Award ^[8] and China Civil Engineering Zhan Tianyou Award.^[10]

In May 2001, the Shanghai Urban History Development Exhibition Hall was opened at ground level of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.^[8]

Since May 8, 2007, the tower has been listed as a AAAAA Tourist Attraction.^[11]

On January 6, 2020, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower was rated as one of the Top Ten New Landmarks in Shanghai by the China Architectural Culture Research Association.^[12]

Observation levels

The tower has fifteen observatory levels. The highest (known as the Space Module) is at 351 metres (1,150 ft). The lower levels are at 263 metres (863 ft) (Sightseeing Floor) and at 90 metres (300 ft) (Space City). There is a revolving restaurant at the 267 metres (876 ft) level. The project also contains exhibition facilities and a small shopping center. There is also a 20-room hotel called the Space Hotel between the two large spheres. The upper observation platform has an outside area with a 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) glass floor.^[13]

Gallery

Looking up at the Oriental Pearl Tower
Oriental Pearl Tower in the evening
The Oriental Pearl tower at night
Oriental Pearl in the clouds at night

Notes

^ simplified Chinese: 东方明珠电视塔; traditional Chinese: 東方明珠電視塔; pinyin: Dōngfāng Míngzhū diànshì tǎ; Shanghainese: Tonfån Mintsythah

References

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 10, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ SkyscraperPage - Oriental Pearl Tower
^ "Oriental Pearl Tower". SkyscraperPage.
^ "Emporis building ID 103802". Emporis. Archived from the original on May 14, 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d 上海改革开放40年 : 那些年, 我们的故事. 上海市档案局(馆), 上海老新闻工作者协会编 (Di 1 ban ed.). Shanghai. 2018. ISBN 978-7-208-15187-1. OCLC 1083305320.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c 张, 添翼 (November 24, 2018). "【上海印记】魔都地标！东方明珠电视塔是如何建成的？". 上海发布. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
^ ^a ^b 康, 小兰 (April 9, 2010). "东方明珠电视塔：亚洲第一高塔". 国务院新闻办公室网站. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ""东方明珠"：上海广播电视塔". 上海通. October 28, 2009. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
^ 上海画报出版社 (2000). 上海十大新景观 (in Chinese). 上海: 上海画报出版社. ISBN 9787805301785.
^ "第一届中国土木工程詹天佑奖获奖工程及获奖单位名单". 中国土木工程学会. October 1, 2013. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
^ "5A级景区". 中华人民共和国文化和旅游部. 2007. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
^ ""上海新十大地标建筑"评选揭晓". 中国建筑文化研究会. January 6, 2020. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
^ "Oriental Pearl Tower". Sunspire Photography.