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12-08-2013, 11:24 PM
http://www.afr.com/p/world/china_giant_n...nPurY48HaO
ANGUS GRIGG
China’s giant new water-themed shopping mall has murky depths
PUBLISHED: 1 HOUR 8 MINUTES AGO | UPDATE: 1 HOUR 6 MINUTES AGO
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China’s giant new water-themed shopping mall has murky depths
The bigger issue is how the Global Centre in Chengdu was ever built in the first place and what it tells us about China. Photo: AFP
China observed
ANGUS GRIGG
It has been breathlessly said to resemble the wings of a bird or ocean waves, but in reality the Global Centre looks like a giant box.
The shopping mall in the western Chinese city of Chengdu has no discernable architectural significance, yet one fact has guaranteed the structure plenty of online “buzz” and mainstream media coverage.
The mall, which opened in July, is the world’s largest building under a single roof – three times bigger than the Pentagon and capable of fitting 20 Sydney Opera Houses inside.
The nautical-themed complex has an ice rink, white-water rafting, two five-star hotels, and seemingly more marble than all the museums in Italy. There’s an indoor beach, with manufactured sea breezes and sunsets provided by a 150m-long TV screen.
“This place is way too big and opulent” says Catherin Xin, a sales supervisor at Today’s Books, which has just opened in the mall. “Visually it’s too busy,” she says about the combination of streaked marble and neon lights. “It hurts your eyes.”
Her derision is typical of how the building has been received by Chengdu residents and visitors, yet its ascetics are only a secondary issue.
THE MISSING BILLIONNAIRE
The bigger issue is how the Global Centre was ever built in the first place and what it tells us about China.
The story of how a second-tier city in Sichuan Province built the world’s largest structure is tied to the rise of property developer Deng Hong.
As with many entrepreneurs of his generation, the 50-year-old former soldier started with nothing – his first known business venture was selling jeans on the street in the mid-1980s.
Less than a decade later, he was in the property game and had built a vast fortune, partially due to impeccable connections with the local government. Those connections created his fortune, but are also the reason he was detained in May and has not been seen since.
Mr Deng’s detention, along with former Chengdu party secretary Li Chuncheng, has allowed local media to take a closer look at what was going on. It is a rare view below the surface and a primer on how state-sponsored capitalism really works. Like property developments the world over, the Global Centre began with a dubious land deal between Mr Deng and the city government.
COMPENSATION FOR A TRAGEDY
Independent news magazine Caixin said Mr Deng bought the site for 480 million yuan ($87 million) back in 2008. A few months later the land was deemed to be worth three times that by the bank. This amounted to an $170 million windfall for Mr Deng, but, even still, his original plan remained relatively modest. According to the China Business Weekly, Mr Deng planned to build a 30,000-square-metre water park. But the government was not satisfied. They wanted a show of confidence from the “private sector”. It was mid-2008 and the Sichuan earthquake had just devastated the region, killing nearly 70,000 people. Government officials were complicit, as many of the dead were children in poorly built schools when the quake struck. Somehow, they believed a giant structure was just what the Province needed to get past this tragedy. And so Mr Deng was tapped on the shoulder and encouraged to expand his development. Global Centre is estimated to have cost $1 billion to build, with the money provided by state-owned banks, at the urging of local officials.
It’s early days for the Global Centre, given the water park and many big names shops are yet to open, but if it fails the Chinese people will be the ones who ultimately pay for it.
This is replicated right across China and is the result of governments telling the private sector what they should build – and providing the money to do so. But it’s also another way of allowing profits to be privatised and losses socialised.
The Australian Financial Review
ANGUS GRIGG
China’s giant new water-themed shopping mall has murky depths
PUBLISHED: 1 HOUR 8 MINUTES AGO | UPDATE: 1 HOUR 6 MINUTES AGO
SHARE LINKS:email
inShare
submitsubmit to redditprint-font+fontReprints & permissions
China’s giant new water-themed shopping mall has murky depths
The bigger issue is how the Global Centre in Chengdu was ever built in the first place and what it tells us about China. Photo: AFP
China observed
ANGUS GRIGG
It has been breathlessly said to resemble the wings of a bird or ocean waves, but in reality the Global Centre looks like a giant box.
The shopping mall in the western Chinese city of Chengdu has no discernable architectural significance, yet one fact has guaranteed the structure plenty of online “buzz” and mainstream media coverage.
The mall, which opened in July, is the world’s largest building under a single roof – three times bigger than the Pentagon and capable of fitting 20 Sydney Opera Houses inside.
The nautical-themed complex has an ice rink, white-water rafting, two five-star hotels, and seemingly more marble than all the museums in Italy. There’s an indoor beach, with manufactured sea breezes and sunsets provided by a 150m-long TV screen.
“This place is way too big and opulent” says Catherin Xin, a sales supervisor at Today’s Books, which has just opened in the mall. “Visually it’s too busy,” she says about the combination of streaked marble and neon lights. “It hurts your eyes.”
Her derision is typical of how the building has been received by Chengdu residents and visitors, yet its ascetics are only a secondary issue.
THE MISSING BILLIONNAIRE
The bigger issue is how the Global Centre was ever built in the first place and what it tells us about China.
The story of how a second-tier city in Sichuan Province built the world’s largest structure is tied to the rise of property developer Deng Hong.
As with many entrepreneurs of his generation, the 50-year-old former soldier started with nothing – his first known business venture was selling jeans on the street in the mid-1980s.
Less than a decade later, he was in the property game and had built a vast fortune, partially due to impeccable connections with the local government. Those connections created his fortune, but are also the reason he was detained in May and has not been seen since.
Mr Deng’s detention, along with former Chengdu party secretary Li Chuncheng, has allowed local media to take a closer look at what was going on. It is a rare view below the surface and a primer on how state-sponsored capitalism really works. Like property developments the world over, the Global Centre began with a dubious land deal between Mr Deng and the city government.
COMPENSATION FOR A TRAGEDY
Independent news magazine Caixin said Mr Deng bought the site for 480 million yuan ($87 million) back in 2008. A few months later the land was deemed to be worth three times that by the bank. This amounted to an $170 million windfall for Mr Deng, but, even still, his original plan remained relatively modest. According to the China Business Weekly, Mr Deng planned to build a 30,000-square-metre water park. But the government was not satisfied. They wanted a show of confidence from the “private sector”. It was mid-2008 and the Sichuan earthquake had just devastated the region, killing nearly 70,000 people. Government officials were complicit, as many of the dead were children in poorly built schools when the quake struck. Somehow, they believed a giant structure was just what the Province needed to get past this tragedy. And so Mr Deng was tapped on the shoulder and encouraged to expand his development. Global Centre is estimated to have cost $1 billion to build, with the money provided by state-owned banks, at the urging of local officials.
It’s early days for the Global Centre, given the water park and many big names shops are yet to open, but if it fails the Chinese people will be the ones who ultimately pay for it.
This is replicated right across China and is the result of governments telling the private sector what they should build – and providing the money to do so. But it’s also another way of allowing profits to be privatised and losses socialised.
The Australian Financial Review