- 2 months ago
- #brightside
- #brightsideglobal
In this video, we will reveal the mystery behind the Zifeng Tower, a 450-meter skyscraper in Nanjing that has been standing empty for over a decade. We will also explore the reasons why this building, which cost over one billion dollars to construct, remains inaccessible to the public, even to the rich and powerful.
#brightside #brightsideglobal
TIMESTAMPS:
0:01 Forbidden tower
09:05 Hidden doors in China's Great Wall
17:35 Why China's sky fills with planes one month a year
This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
#brightside #brightsideglobal
TIMESTAMPS:
0:01 Forbidden tower
09:05 Hidden doors in China's Great Wall
17:35 Why China's sky fills with planes one month a year
This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:01Tianjin, China. At first sight, it doesn't look like a perfect place to build one of the fanciest and tallest
00:07buildings in the world.
00:08But a company from China decided to take a chance.
00:11They had visions of building Golden Finance 117, a unique, mighty skyscraper with plenty of things super-rich people could
00:20enjoy.
00:20At that time, no one knew it would turn into one of the tallest ghost scrapers in the world, meaning
00:26it would be a skyscraper with no life, events, or people inside.
00:31The one that no one would even talk about anymore.
00:36The world has impressive tall skyscrapers. The first one was built in 1885 in Chicago.
00:43And the tallest one today is in Dubai.
00:46Shanghai. Then, there's one in Shanghai.
00:49Another one in Mecca.
00:52And Shenzhen.
00:55Golden Finance 117 was supposed to be the fifth tallest skyscraper ever built.
01:00The construction was started 13 years ago. And, at first, it all looked very promising.
01:06In 2015, the building reached its full height, 1955 feet.
01:11But then, something mysterious happened.
01:14People deserted the skyscraper shortly after it was almost done.
01:18And the whole project has remained unfinished to this day.
01:23The company got the idea in 2008.
01:26During that period, plenty of cities across China were trying to build something impressive to get their place on the
01:32world stage.
01:33Golden Finance 117 was supposed to be a commercial and residential tower for very rich people.
01:40Italian and French-style interior design, a polo club, extensive gardens.
01:46The skyscraper was supposed to have a three-story diamond-shaped atrium at the top, with a swimming pool, sky
01:52bar, and a restaurant.
01:54And don't forget about the highest observation deck in the world.
01:58A paradise for those who could afford it.
02:01Imagine living at the top of such a skyscraper.
02:04Golden Finance 117 was expected to be habitable up to its highest point.
02:09This mixed-use skyscraper was supposed to rise 128 floors above the ground.
02:14There was a plan to turn 117 of them into commercial space and hotel.
02:19And 11 more floors were expected to be for operational and mechanical services.
02:24The building's ratio of height to width was 9.5 to 1.
02:29When you have such a high and thin tower, you have to be careful with such forces as strong winds.
02:35But the skyscraper was designed to resist all this.
02:38No wonder, with a perimeter frame of mega-braces, huge tapering columns, and transfer trusses.
02:45On the surface, it all looked well.
02:47An excellent design and unique construction.
02:50But before the company started pre-sales, authorities needed to inspect and sign off on the final product.
02:56This is a process all new developers need to go through if they want to get and keep their spot
03:02on the property market.
03:03The country wants only established and reliable companies to keep the quality levels high.
03:09Back in the day, the company that was building the skyscraper was a new player in the Chinese market.
03:15So they had to finance their project all by themselves.
03:19They couldn't start recouping their investment until each of their buildings was finished.
03:23In other words, it was tricky ever since the beginning.
03:27But they were focused on the result.
03:29If they managed to finish the entire project with no major issues, the reward would be amazing.
03:35So they started in August 2008.
03:39China survived the global financial crisis that also happened in 2008.
03:43But it still affected the market.
03:46That brought lots of pressure on the company, which is why they stopped building the skyscraper in January 2010.
03:52Things got better in 2011.
03:55That's when the company decided to continue their work, finish the tower, and get ready to sell it because the
04:01market was growing once again.
04:03But considering all the rules on the property market, the company was in a very vulnerable situation.
04:10Things were getting more and more complicated.
04:12In 2015, there was a new crisis, this time affecting the stock market.
04:17The series of unfortunate events kept happening on and off until everyone stopped talking about the entire project.
04:25One more issue was the location.
04:28The skyscraper was being built on what used to be industrial land.
04:32And in the area, there weren't many wealthy people who could afford to live in such a building.
04:37The company probably hoped for people to relocate there once they finished the construction, which never happened.
04:43China generally has the biggest number of tall buildings in the whole world.
04:48There are 1,400 skyscrapers in the country.
04:52The U.S. takes second place with more than 800 high-rise buildings.
04:56Then there's Japan with over 250 skyscrapers.
05:012018 was the year when China built more skyscrapers than any other country in the world.
05:0688 new buildings with a height of 656 feet or more appeared there.
05:12But because of multiple unforeseen events, Golden Finance 117 never got its chance to shine.
05:19Now it's just a ghost place everyone stopped talking about in 2018.
05:25Now, this wasn't the only case when a building remained unfinished for a long period of time.
05:31A new airport in Berlin, Germany was meant to open in June 2012.
05:35It wasn't the first project like this to miss the deadline, but it was one of the most memorable.
05:41The airport was about to open.
05:44But right before it did, inspectors found around 120,000 defects all over the place.
05:50For example, some automatic doors didn't open.
05:53There were fire safety issues.
05:55Authorities also noticed sagging roofs.
05:58About 106,000 miles of cable were wired in the wrong way.
06:02Which means they couldn't turn on some lights or turn off others.
06:07Experts were trying to solve these problems for nine years.
06:10The airport was built to handle 27 million passengers a year.
06:14In 2019, over 45 million travelers passed through the two other overburdened airports in Berlin.
06:21These airports are now set to close and merge with the new one, which has started expanding.
06:26The original budget for the whole project was more than $8.2 billion.
06:32But it's likely to increase in the next few years.
06:36The idea occurred back in 1990.
06:39And it took six years just to find the right spot to build the airport.
06:43The official construction didn't start for another decade.
06:46The original code for this airport also needed to be changed since it was already in use by an airport
06:53in India.
06:54But if you design an airport in the early 2000s, will it even be compatible with the travel habits and
07:00technology in 2020 and beyond?
07:03Also, there isn't enough space for all the planes that are supposed to be there.
07:07And still, since 2020, the airport has been open and growing bigger.
07:13Meanwhile, a tower in Krakow, Poland, got the nickname Skeleton.
07:18It stood proud and tall, but its unfinished carcass indeed looked like a skeleton.
07:23At 300 feet, it's one of the tallest buildings in Krakow.
07:27The project started in 1975, but stopped because of some difficulties in the country that occurred at that time.
07:34The tower remained abandoned for a long time and changed owners several times.
07:39It was often wrapped in advertising billboards.
07:42Luckily, it didn't remain unfinished.
07:45In 2016, the latest reconstruction process started.
07:49The main goal was to turn the skyscraper into a modern office building.
07:53It's completed now.
07:55The tower consists of five office buildings, together with the main one in the center.
08:00Architects found inspiration in styles from the 1920s and 30s.
08:04There's a terrace at the top.
08:05In the future, a museum of the history of the building might appear in the skyscraper.
08:12And here's one more ghost tower, this time in Bangkok, Thailand.
08:16From the outside, you'd say it's just another part of Bangkok's skyline.
08:21The skyscraper is around 75% completed.
08:24But once you take a closer look, you'll see there are plenty of interior structures missing.
08:30It was supposed to be a luxury building, but right now, it's just another abandoned skyscraper.
08:36It's surrounded by a fence and doesn't look safe.
08:39The walls are covered with graffiti and there's no electricity.
08:42The building stands there as a reminder of what it could have become
08:46and draws the attention of urban explorers from all over the world.
08:51The construction process stopped when the crisis started.
08:54And now, only occasional adventurists visit the site to enjoy the magnificent view of the city and the river.
09:05There are many myths around arguably the greatest structure ever built by humans,
09:10the Great Wall of China.
09:12Some say it's so grand that it's visible from space.
09:17Others claim that you can see it from as far as the moon.
09:21Other theories suggest that the builders of the wall were left inside.
09:27Well, sorry to disappoint you, but all these impressive stories are just myths.
09:33But even with those stories busted,
09:35the Great Wall of China is an impressive and truly breathtaking structure.
09:39So let me tell you its true story.
09:43Today, China is one of the most populated countries in the world,
09:46counting as many as 1.4 billion residents.
09:50It's also one of the oldest nations in the world.
09:53It has 3,500 years of continuous written history.
09:57But the civilization existed long before that.
10:00There is a theory that while the European continent, for example,
10:04was most likely reached by humans from Africa,
10:08China wasn't populated by settlers that came from somewhere else.
10:12Some people believe that the Chinese civilization got formed from local Stone Age people
10:18who lived on the territory since the prehistoric period.
10:21So now, the Great Wall of China.
10:24It's truly big even by today's standard,
10:27stretching for over 13,000 miles.
10:30To imagine it better,
10:32it's almost five times the distance between New York and Los Angeles.
10:37Or even a bit greater than the distance between the North and South Poles.
10:42Even in modern times,
10:43people have never built anything close to this big.
10:47Of course, it didn't take a day to build the Great Wall of China.
10:51To?
10:51Keep going.
10:52In fact, the wall was being built for centuries.
10:56Maybe you know that ancient cities had walls around them to protect themselves from invaders.
11:01Yes, Chinese cities had them too.
11:04The first Chinese emperor united the country in 220 BCE
11:08and got a brilliant but very ambitious idea
11:11to turn all city walls into one big wall
11:15that would defend the country's border against attacks from the North.
11:19A trusted general directed the construction.
11:22Enrolling a big group of workers,
11:24soldiers, commoners, and convicts.
11:27Back then, the wall was built of rammed earth and wood.
11:31In some places that were strategically important,
11:33the sections of the wall overlapped to provide maximum security.
11:38The walls were around 26 feet high on average.
11:42But the Great Wall didn't yet look like the construction we know today.
11:46Every next emperor would pick up the big wall project,
11:49strengthening and extending it, repairing,
11:52but also modernizing construction techniques.
11:55Some used bricks to build it.
11:57Others moved on to granite and marble blocks.
12:01Watchtowers and platforms weren't there from the beginning as well.
12:04They were added by Ming emperors.
12:06The watchtowers made it possible to communicate with other parts of the wall
12:11through smoke and fire messages.
12:13So, the wall is quite inconsistent in terms of material,
12:17but it only adds more charm to the construction
12:20and shows how much effort and time it took.
12:23The reasons why some parts of the wall have been standing for centuries
12:27and are still in good condition is glutinous rice flour.
12:31Turns out, this sticky rice mortar is almost like cement.
12:36It's very strong and waterproof,
12:38sealing the bricks so tightly together
12:40that even sneaky weeds can't grow between them.
12:43You may also notice that some bricks have writings carved on them.
12:47They were left by the workers who were building the wall.
12:51The purpose of those writings is quality assurance.
12:54They contain such information as location, quantity, and responsible officials.
12:59So, in the case of some problems with the quality of materials or constructions,
13:04it would be known who should be held accountable for it.
13:08Recently, a research group has looked through official historical documents
13:12of the Ming dynasty that ruled China from the 14th to the 17th centuries.
13:16They came across records of secret doors in the Great Wall.
13:21So, they decided to find them.
13:23They used a flying robot to capture continuous centimeter resolution photos of the wall.
13:29They photographed 90% of the wall that was built during the Ming dynasty
13:33and discovered the remains of over 220 secret doors along the wall.
13:39Some of them have a specific width and height
13:41that allows only one person to go through.
13:45Others are large enough to allow two horses to pass at the same time.
13:49Why are the doors there?
13:52Well, the Great Wall's main goal was to protect the country from the enemy.
13:57Building doors that could let the enemy in would undermine the whole point of having a wall.
14:02So, of course, the doors were secret passages.
14:05They perfectly matched the surroundings topographically.
14:08And the exit on the outside was camouflaged with bricks
14:11so that it was almost completely indistinguishable from the brick wall.
14:16The wall was never just a defensive wall.
14:19And it was never completely closed.
14:21It could be opened on demand.
14:23It was also a structure used for trade and commerce,
14:27communication between inside and outside the wall,
14:29and, of course, for defense and spying.
14:33Some doors were used for trade with the other side.
14:37Through smaller doors,
14:38a person would sneak out to spy on the enemy that lived on the other side.
14:43The hidden gates were also useful for a sudden attack.
14:46As you remember, some gates were camouflaged with brick on the outside.
14:51The exit was so indistinguishable
14:53that the enemy had no idea exactly where it was located.
14:57The inside entrance for Chinese soldiers was hollow,
15:00so they could walk through the wall
15:02and break the camouflaged exigate from the inside,
15:05starting their surprise attack.
15:08Now, even though the main point was to prevent outsiders
15:11from getting into the city,
15:13the wall wasn't too effective on that matter.
15:16It could still be climbed over or marched around.
15:19So the wall was being watched at all times,
15:22and the guards gave signals to the troops
15:25if they saw the enemy approach.
15:28Also, the wall provided more time to mobilize
15:30and bulk up the country's forces
15:32or lure the enemy troops into a difficult strategic position.
15:37The construction stopped at the end of the 19th century.
15:41The wall lost its strategic and military importance
15:43due to technological advances.
15:47Over the centuries to today,
15:49only 8% of the Great Wall is in good condition.
15:52And the rest is damaged.
15:55Also, around one-third of the wall
15:57has disappeared without a trace,
15:59due to both natural erosion and human damage.
16:02I guess you could say it's now just a pretty good wall.
16:06As you remember,
16:07the first parts of the wall
16:08were built out of rammed earth and wood.
16:10These are not the most unfailing materials
16:13if we're talking about thousands of years.
16:16Also, destructive farming methods
16:18have turned large areas into a desert
16:20and contributed to erosion.
16:23Also, many bricks were taken away from the wall
16:25in the last century
16:26to be used in building farms and houses.
16:29The wall is being deconstructed stone by stone
16:32even today,
16:33but this time by tourists.
16:36Quite a few of them take a stone as a souvenir.
16:38That's a total of a lot of stones,
16:41considering that over 10 million tourists
16:43visit the Great Wall every year.
16:46Since 1987,
16:48the wall has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
16:51highlighting that it has
16:53an outstanding importance to humanity.
16:56The wall is one of China's 56 World Heritage Sites,
17:00second place among countries
17:01with landmarks protected by UNESCO.
17:04Who's first, you ask?
17:05Well, the top spot with 58 World Heritage Sites
17:09belongs to Italy.
17:11And do you know that the wall
17:13isn't only a famous tourist attraction,
17:16but also the location of the Great Wall Marathon?
17:20It's a marathon that was established in 1999
17:23and is one of the most challenging ones in the world.
17:26You guessed right.
17:28People run along the wall,
17:30including all the steps.
17:31There are three distances,
17:33so that participants can run a full marathon
17:35that is 26 miles,
17:37a half marathon that's 13 miles,
17:39or just have a fun run of 5 miles.
17:44Hey, New Year is coming,
17:46and we're going to celebrate.
17:47Pack your things,
17:48we're going to China.
17:50Yeah, you might think I'm crazy.
17:52New Year was some time ago.
17:54But Lunar New Year isn't on January 1st.
17:57It doesn't even have a regular date,
17:59because it depends on the lunar calendar.
18:02But it's usually sometime in January or February.
18:05The first day of the year is the day
18:08when the new moon appears.
18:10Then the celebration lasts for about 15 days
18:13until the moon is full.
18:15This year, Lunar New Year falls on February 12th.
18:18A whopping one-sixth of the world celebrates it,
18:21at least.
18:22The holiday is celebrated in China,
18:24where we're headed.
18:25But it's also a public holiday in many other countries.
18:28They all have different names for it,
18:31but the concept is the same,
18:32a lunar calendar celebration.
18:35Outside of Asia,
18:36the biggest celebration is held in San Francisco.
18:39It's been that way since the middle of the 19th century,
18:42when many Chinese workers arrived there
18:44during the gold rush to work in the mines.
18:47Now you can see huge Lunar New Year fireworks
18:50in tons of cities around the U.S.
18:52But getting to, or moving around China,
18:55isn't that easy.
18:56We've got to be careful,
18:57because right now,
18:58transportation systems are stretched to the limit.
19:01About 15 days before the New Year,
19:04and then 25 days into it,
19:06a lot of people travel somewhere
19:08by plane, train, bus, or on foot.
19:11It's traditional to visit your family for New Year.
19:13It's the largest annual human migration on the planet.
19:17Last year, in this 40-day period,
19:19there were about 3 billion total trips taken.
19:22The Lunar New Year is also called Spring Festival.
19:26It signifies the end of the winter.
19:28And, wait, are you as confused as I am right now?
19:31Spring in February?
19:33It's not a mistake.
19:34There are 24 solar terms in the Chinese traditional calendar,
19:38and each of them lasts about 15 days.
19:41Usually, the New Year falls on the term
19:44that starts in the beginning of February,
19:46and it's called the beginning of spring.
19:49It's followed by the seasons Rainwater,
19:51Waking of Insects, and Spring Equinox.
19:55The traditional Chinese calendar
19:57is a bit different to the one they
19:58and the rest of the world uses.
20:01Years are counted in 60-year cycles.
20:03The cycle that's running now started in 1984.
20:07Also, their calendar is way ahead,
20:09because they started counting years much earlier.
20:13This year will be 47-19.
20:16Also, every year has a different zodiac sign,
20:19one of the 12 animals.
20:20The cycle of 12 starts with the rat,
20:23followed by the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon,
20:27snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
20:332020 was the year of the rat,
20:35and 2021 is the year of the ox.
20:38The year of the animal you were born in
20:40is your zodiac animal.
20:42Your zodiac animal comes around every 12 years,
20:45and some say it's unlucky.
20:48But don't worry, there's a way to protect yourself.
20:51The color red.
20:52Some people wear red clothes
20:54during the year of their zodiac animal,
20:56or more likely, get a red purse
20:58or tie a red ribbon to their bag or something.
21:01A little more about red.
21:03We've finally arrived in Beijing,
21:05the capital of China.
21:07Notice how everything's decorated in red?
21:10City streets are lit up with red lanterns.
21:12Some people are dressed in red.
21:14And houses are decorated
21:15with spring festival decorations.
21:18These red decorations
21:19are a very important part of this holiday.
21:22There's no way to celebrate it without them.
21:24Red is also a big deal in Chinese culture.
21:27Just look at the flag.
21:28In China, the color red means good fortune and joy,
21:32and symbolizes good luck for the following year.
21:35Sure, some are wearing red.
21:37But the thing that really stands out
21:39is that a lot of people have new clothes on.
21:42People clean their houses before the new year,
21:45get new haircuts,
21:46and declutter their lives as best they can,
21:49all to greet the new year.
21:51The most important part of the celebration
21:53is the reunion dinner.
21:55Wherever family members are,
21:57they all try to come back home to celebrate.
22:00There's a big feast to commemorate the past year,
22:03and there's usually a lot of food.
22:05An important dish in traditional dinners
22:08is a whole fish,
22:09which signifies prosperity for the new year.
22:12Another common thing to eat are rice cakes.
22:15They're so iconic,
22:16some people even call them New Year cakes.
22:19They're made of rice flour and are very sticky.
22:21There are also dumplings,
22:24chopped meat and vegetables wrapped in dough.
22:26They're made to imitate the shape
22:28of ancient Chinese silver ingots
22:30that were used as money.
22:31So dumplings signify wealth.
22:34The rule of the evening,
22:36get stuffed full of delicious dumplings.
22:38You'll need energy.
22:40There's a long public holiday ahead,
22:42the longest one all year.
22:43Most people have 7 to 12 days of vacation,
22:46and students sometimes don't go to school
22:49for the whole month.
22:50After the main meal,
22:52some families sit together
22:53and watch the Lunar New Year Gala.
22:55It's a TV program
22:57with many different performances.
22:59There's everything.
23:00Music, dancing, comedy, and drama.
23:03The gala holds the Guinness World Record
23:05for being the world's most watched TV program.
23:09Well, no wonder.
23:10China's population is more than 1.4 billion people.
23:14Younger family members get red envelopes
23:16with money from their grandparents,
23:18uncles, and other family members.
23:21Bosses give them to employees,
23:22and students might even give them
23:24to their favorite teachers.
23:26Nowadays, many of them are digital.
23:29Fireworks were accidentally invented in China
23:31more than 2,000 years ago,
23:33when someone unintentionally tossed bamboo into a fire.
23:37A thousand years later,
23:39they were reinvented by an alchemist
23:41who was trying to find the formula for eternal life.
23:44He mixed sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate
23:47and heated it up.
23:49Kaboom!
23:50Packed into a piece of bamboo,
23:52it made the first firecrackers.
23:54They were traditionally used to scare away evil spirits.
23:57More than 1,000 years later,
24:00China is still the world's leading producer of fireworks.
24:03If you love fireworks,
24:05and the 4th of July just isn't enough,
24:07see if there are any big cities near you
24:09having lunar New Year fireworks.
24:12They can be epic.
24:13According to tradition,
24:15the first day of the year is for all-out celebration.
24:18That's another reason why it's better
24:20to clean your house before the New Year.
24:23Also, everyone has a birthday.
24:25It doesn't really matter when you were actually born.
24:28In China, people have a regular age
24:30and a nominal age.
24:32The real age is just the regular one starting at zero.
24:35But the nominal age is a bit different.
24:38When a person is born,
24:39he or she is considered to be one year old.
24:42Every New Year's Day,
24:44people become one year older.
24:46For example,
24:47those born on February 11th this year
24:49would just have to wait a few days
24:51to get a nominal age of two.
24:54Rice is a big part of Chinese culture,
24:57but not on the third day of the New Year.
24:59That's rice's birthday.
25:01On that day,
25:02people that are following the tradition
25:04aren't supposed to eat any rice.
25:06People usually eat a type of pasta
25:08or dumplings instead.
25:10There's another important event a few days later.
25:13The 10th day of the Lunar New Year
25:15is called the Stone Festival.
25:17On that day,
25:18people don't use stone tools.
25:20That was a big deal back in the day
25:22when stone tools were used every day
25:24to make flour.
25:25The last, 15th day of the celebration
25:28is called the Lantern Festival.
25:31Historians say that the first lanterns
25:33were used about 2,000 years ago.
25:35Now, they're a big part of China's celebration culture.
25:39On the last day of the New Year's celebration,
25:42people go outside at night with their lanterns.
25:44The lantern symbolizes letting go of your old self
25:48to become a better person in the New Year.
25:50Also, many write riddles on their lanterns
25:53and solve the riddles of others
25:55when they go outside.
25:56A big part of the public celebration
25:58is the Dragon Dance.
26:00It's performed by a large team of dancers
26:02who hide inside a long model of a dragon.
26:06Plus, there's a whole team of drummers
26:08nearby providing the music.
26:10The dragon moves around,
26:12sometimes in a circle
26:13and sometimes like a wave.
26:14That means that the dancers
26:16have to remember the entire choreography
26:18without being able to see
26:20what's going on around them.
26:22And if the folks in the tail
26:24are moving too slowly,
26:25you shout back to them to quit dragon.
26:28Well, I thought it was fun.
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