[imagesource: REX/Shutterstock]
That strange egg-shaped office building that you see above, situated in south China’s Guangxi province, is unequivocally an eyesore.
Chinese citizens agree and have voted to make it one of the “Top 10 Ugliest Buildings” in the country, via a competition run by architecture website Archcy.
The website has been voting annually since 2010, with the goal of “spark[ing] discussion about the beauty and ugliness of architecture” as well as to “promote architects’ social responsibility”.
South China Morning Post reports that China’s rapid urbanisation over the past 40 years has brought with it many failed projects that have ended with “follies and eyesores”.
Around seven years ago, President Xi Jinping famously criticised the “weird” buildings that have been materialising across the country.
One that has come under fire is the “big pants” national broadcaster building in Beijing, nicknamed by Chinese social media users due to its resemblance to a pair of giant legs:
Likewise with this unusual East-meets-West building in an unfinished Hebei theme park, which looks like China’s Temple of Heaven on one side, while the other is like America’s Capitol Hill:
The list has done so well to draw attention to these follies that the Chinese government banned “ugly” architecture in April this year.
Perhaps what’s ugly to some is interesting to others, but China is having none of it, and action is already been taken to remove some of the ugliest buildings in the country.
First up was the removal of the Guan Yu statue, a 58-metre monstrosity in the centre of China, last week:
Per The Guardian, users on Chinese social media app Weibo have been using the hashtag translated to #BanningUglyArchitecture, which has been viewed 170 million times, and have shared images of “unattractive buildings” across the country.
Students from the prestigious Zhejiang University in eastern China. They have been complaining about the university’s gigantic southern gate:
Let’s take a quick tour of some of the other “ugly” buildings shortlisted already.
This bizarre ‘pyramid-shaped’ building in Kunshan, Jiangsu became a bit of an internet sensation earlier this year:
Then we have the Tianzi Hotel, located in Langfang, north China’s Hebei Province.
It features the gods of fortune, happiness, and longevity:
Useless probably, but I kind of love it.
Next up is the ‘welcome to hell’ Jiuhuangshan Glass Bridge in Mianyang, Sichuan province:
The Jiuhuangshan scenic park built this bridge in 2019 connecting two mountains to save tourists the trouble of trekking up and down the two slopes.
However, at either end of the bridge were two massive statues of people in ethnic clothing. The public labelled them “very terrifying” and said the statues look like: “they are welcoming people to hell”.
Personally, I think the worst is this violin-shaped church in Foshan, Guangdong province:
Sies.
The final results will be announced in December.
