Canton Tower

The Canton Tower (Chinese: 广州塔), formally Guangzhou TV Astronomical and Sightseeing Tower (Chinese: 广州电视台天文及观光塔), is a very tall tower that stands 600 metres (2,000 feet) high in the Haizhu District of Guangzhou, China. It was completed in 2009 and opened to the public on September 29, 2010.

For a short time, the Canton Tower was the tallest tower in the world, taking the place of Toronto’s CN Tower. Later, it was surpassed by the Tokyo Skytree. Before the Shanghai Tower was built, the Canton Tower was the tallest structure in all of China. Today, it is the second-tallest tower in China.

Naming and etymology

The mascot of the Canton Tower, Xiaomanyao (小蛮腰; 'Slim Waist'), was named after the nickname of the tower.

People talked a lot about what to call the Canton Tower when it was being built in 2005. In September 2020, the newspaper Guangzhou Daily held a contest to choose a name. Over 180,000 people entered, and the winning name was "Haixin Tower," which means "Tower in the Sea." This name reminded people of the city's place on the Maritime Silk Road and its closeness to Haixinsha Island. But many people still used other fun nicknames like "Slim Waist" or "Twisted Firewood."

In 2010, after listening to many opinions, the name "Canton Tower" was chosen as the official English name. This name was picked because it described the city's important history well and was easy for everyone to understand.

History

The Canton Tower was built by Guangzhou New Television Tower Group. It was designed by Dutch architects Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit from Information Based Architecture, along with the firm Arup in London, United Kingdom. In 2004, these designers won a contest to build the tower. They worked together on the design.

Construction started in 2005. The tower opened to visitors on 1 October 2010, before it was fully finished, to welcome people for the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou later that year. The rooftop observatory opened in December 2011.

Structure and construction

The Canton Tower has a twisted shape based on an old design by a Russian engineer. A team used smart building methods to make it strong and simple.

Visitors can walk on a skywalk up the tower. There are gardens and a big outdoor viewing area near the top. Inside, the tower has TV rooms, restaurants that spin around, gaming areas, shops, and movie theaters.

The design uses two oval shapes that twist around each other. The middle is tighter and the top is more open. There is an indoor viewing area and an outdoor viewing platform that was once the highest in the world. At night, the tower lights up beautifully with special energy-saving lights.

Measurements

The Canton Tower's main body is 450 metres tall. With its antenna, the tower is 604 metres tall. This makes it the second-tallest tower in the world, the second tallest in Asia, and the tallest in the People's Republic of China. The tower has 112 floors.

The tower weighs 100,000 tonnes. This includes the antenna and the main body of the tower. The tower covers an area of 175,458 square metres, with 114,054 square metres of usable space.

Events

The Canton Tower was a special spot for the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, held on Haixinsha Island.

Fireworks launched off the Canton Tower during the 2010 Asian Games opening ceremony.

It also had its first ever concert inside, an annual Christmas Concert on Christmas Eve, which took place on December 24, 2012.

Geography

The Canton Tower is on Yiyuan Road in the Haizhu District of Guangzhou, south of Zhujiang New Town. Near it, there are pretty pagodas, a park, and many tall buildings and apartments.