Oriental Pearl Tower, Observation tower in Lujiazui district, Shanghai, China.
Oriental Pearl Tower is a 468-metre television and observation tower in Lujiazui, Shanghai, built from 1991 to 1994. Its concrete columns support three large spheres and five smaller ones, clad in concrete tiles and laminated red glass panes, with an 11-sphere steel framework. The tower stands on the Huangpu River's bank opposite the Bund.
Construction finished in 1995 during a period of deep transformation in Shanghai, when the city was reshaping its skyline. The tower took on the role of a central broadcasting facility for television and radio programs across the growing metropolis.
The tower's name and shape come from a line in Bai Juyi's Tang poem "Pipa xing": big and small pearls falling onto a jade plate. The three columns and eleven spheres were arranged to echo that image. Since 1996 a New Year's Day stair climb has started from the tower plaza each 1 January, with about 500 climbers and 2,000 runners.
Six high-speed lifts run inside the three 9-metre concrete cylinders: a double-deck car at 4 m/s, two cars at 7 m/s reaching the upper sphere in 40 seconds, and a small 8-person lift between 250 and 341 metres. The 259-metre glass-floored sightseeing corridor circles the sphere. Metro Lines 2 and 14 stop at Lujiazui station.
The tower has fifteen observatory levels, not fifteen elevators; its cylindrical shafts hold six high-speed lifts, one of which carries 50 people at 4 m/s. The 0-metre hall houses the Shanghai Urban History Development Exhibition Hall, about 10,000 square metres on the city since its opening as a treaty port. On 29 September 2024 the tower received its 100 millionth visitor.
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