The Compass Guy
Google
The Oriental Pearl Tower is Shanghai’s oversized lava lamp, 468 meters of neon vanity project built in 1994 when architects apparently asked themselves, “How many balls can we stack before someone calls it art?” Answer: eleven. Two giant ones, nine smaller ones, and one massive identity crisis.
It was once China’s tallest building, but now it stands there like the middle-aged uncle at a nightclub, insisting he was “hot stuff in the 90s” while the Shanghai Tower next door casually flexes its 632 meters of modern elegance. Inside, you’ll find a revolving restaurant spinning slowly enough to make you question both your patience and your appetite, plus a glass-floored observation deck where tourists test their courage and their bladder control at the same time.
From afar, it looks like the world’s most ambitious kebab skewer. Up close, it feels like the city collectively agreed to keep this glowing disco stick because, frankly, Shanghai without it would be like New York without Times Square.. quieter, saner, but a lot less meme-worthy.
The Oriental Pearl Tower isn’t just a landmark, it’s Shanghai’s embarrassing high school yearbook photo, too ridiculous to take seriously, too iconic to ever throw away.