Opinion | Will “Life’s Ring” bring vitality and prosperity?
What do long john pants, men’s underwear, ping pong paddle, teapot and three mortals have in common? Well, they are all nicknames internet users in the mainland have come up with to ridicule a host of ugly buildings.
Life’s Ring is a giant ring-shaped building completed between Fushun and Shenyang in Liaoning province, supposedly designed to be a symbolic building for the region.
According to its constructors, it is 154 metres tall and contains 3,500 tonnes of steel. It is covered entirely by metal curtain walls with a whopping 12 thousand LED lamps installed. The cost of construction was estimated at 112 million yuan (nearly HK$140 million).
It symbolises a connection of heaven and earth, local officials say on a government website, claiming there isn’t anything like it elsewhere in the world.
Sounds impressive, huh? Except for the fact that the taxpayers have paid for it.
Local officials had a very simple aim from the beginning – to build an eye-catching project to boost their popularity and draw investment.