Chongqing weaves magic

First horizontal skyscraper

A giant landmark that looks like a spaceship recently stood up at Chaotianmen Port, where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet.

Inspired by traditional Chinese sailing vessels and dubbed an engineering marvel, Raffles City Chongqing is designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie and boasts a sky bridge, called The Crystal, which is said to be one of the the world's highest such bridges.

Measuring 300 meters in length, the bridge houses the Exploration Deck, a viewing gallery accessible to the public, and The Private Club, a members-only clubhouse which operates the "highest infinity swimming pool in the world".

The Crystal was officially opened to the public on May 30. It is the first horizontal skyscraper in China, drawing a lot of attention at home and abroad for its difficulty of construction and engineering.

It represents a milestone in Chinese architectural history, with its use of advanced synchronous hydraulic lifting technology to hoist it into place and attach it to four 250-meter-tall towers.

The Crystal's continuous steel structure weighing 12,000 tons is equivalent to the total weight of France's Eiffel Tower, according to developer Capita-Land Group.

At the entrance to the Exploration Deck, there is a small history gallery providing interesting information of the river city and the construction of the architecture.

Most of the materials are exhibited to the public for the first time, including a book written by a foreign doctor teaching foreigners how to speak the local dialect.

Tourists can then take a high-speed elevator which will transport them to the sky bridge in 50 seconds.

Standing on the glass deck facing Chaotianmen Port, you can enjoy a beautiful view of the two rivers, the skyscrapers, the opera house and the Nanshan Mountain.

As the day gets dark, the night view of the city is unparalleled to anywhere else in China.