China’s known for developing at a breath-taking speed. Sure, there are bound to definitely be some architectural duds along the way, some building fails, some “Only in China” moments and definitely some WTF?! constructions. But from time to time, in China stunning architectural moments happen! Here are 5 architectural wonders to celebrate in China in 2013.

These top architectural wonders were selected by Jing Daily, a magazine dedicated to the business of luxury and culture in China.

#1 China stunning architectural: Sifang Parkland (Nanjing)

Sifang Parklang is an 11-building complex, including a hotel, a conference center, residential villas, and the Sifang Art Museum. Guess they really like geometric shapes in Nanjing! Built over the course of 10 years on the outskirts of Nanjing, Sifang Parkland was developed by the 58-year old real-estate developer Lu Jun and his son, Lu Xun.

#2 China stunning architectural: Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport (Shenzhen)

Designed by Rome-based Studio Fuksas […] the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport’s new Terminal 3 officially opened in November with its first flight taking off for Mongolia.

I already really liked Beijing’s Airport look and feel, can’t wait to go check out Shenzhen’s new airport terminal! The outside looks extremely impressive too! But as the author points out, I might not be getting a change to use the terminal any time soon.

In spite of its cosmopolitan architectural elegance and abundant passenger capacity, the $1-trillion airport currently serves mostly regional routes and has only one direct flight to Europe—Helsinki. Time will tell whether more airlines will connect to the new airport terminal.

#3 China stunning architectural: Shenzhen Stock Exchange (Shenzhen)

photo by philippe ruault – image courtesy of OMA

This building’s most unique feature is the three-story portion that sticks out from the rest, at 120 feet above the ground. Never mind the fact the Chinese stock exchange performed the worst this year, and Shanghai especially, this new Stock Exchange building is set to shine.

#4 China stunning architectural: New Century Global Center (Chengdu)

This massive new shopping center – 4 times the size of the Mall of America, can you imagine? – is so huge you could almost fit anything you’d want in it. It IS the World’s largest building after all. So you could fit in it: 20 Sydney Opera Houses or 3 Pentagons. Instead, it holds an IMAX theater, shops, restaurants, offices, hotels, conference rooms, a “Mediterranean village,” a pirate ship, and a skating rink.

And a gigantic artificial beach, complete with a waterpark,fake sunrises and sunsets and everything. Makes sense for a shopping mall.

#5 China stunning architectural: The China Wood Sculpture Museum (Harbin)

Photo: Iwan Baan

This surreal, sleek looking building sure sticks out in Harbin! Despite being a decent size, the city doesn’t have too many modern looking buildings yet…so this sort of looks like an alien tried to park his ship, don’t you think?

What do you think of these buildings? Did we miss architectural wonders that were built in China in 2013? Let us know in the comments below!

Now let’s see what gets built in 2014 I’m hoping this awesomely crazy bus comes to life!

The Nincha Team!

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