Higher and higher vanities(3)

The Burj Khalifa was started in September of 2004 and finished only in 2010.

However, Jiang disagrees with experts who said Broad's prefabrication module method could only be used for buildings no taller than 100 meters.

"The technique can be used for higher towers. What technology is being used should not limit the height of the skyscrapers," said Jiang.

Jiang was once invited by Broad Group to visit one of its buildings, the T30 hotel in Xiangyin county of Hunan Province. The 30-floor hotel was finished within 15 days in December 2011. It received a lot of flak online and was deemed an example of "China speed" by foreign media.

Jiang found that the internal layout of T30 left much to be desired. Its corridors and staircases were too narrow while its windows were too few and not well-situated, which could cause problems in emergency situations.

"I wrote about these shortcomings to the group's executives, but got no reply," Jiang recalled. He was not invited to advise the group on Sky City.

Skyscraper boom

Though it sounds fantastical, this kind of ambition is not uncommon in other regions of the country.

Shanghai Tower, to be finished by 2015, will be 632 meters high and will replace the Shanghai World Financial Center, 492 meters, as the highest in the metropolis."Z15" Tower, expected to finish by 2016, will be 528 meters high, becoming Beijing's tallest instead of China World Trade Center Tower 3 at 330 meters.

Sheer one-upmanship has also been responsible. The Wuhan Greenland Center in Hubei Province was originally designed to be 606 meters high, but it was later boosted by 30 meters, simply to surpass the Shanghai Tower.

International standards state that buildings higher than 152 meters count as skyscrapers.

By July of 2012, 470 skyscrapers had been completed in China, 332 were under construction and 516 were being planned, according to statistics from Motian City, a non-governmental think tank.

This compares to the US which has 533 skyscrapers already built, but just 6 under construction and 24 planned by 2022.

It seems nothing can stop the enthusiasm for building skyscrapers while the competition is only becoming fiercer.

"Even knowing clearly there is no way to recoup the massive costs, property developers in some regions are still determined to go higher and higher. This is because they've got a commitment from local governments, selling them land at a much lower price so long as they are willing to make the tallest buildings," Zhai Baohui, researcher with the Policy Research Center under Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, told the People's Daily.

"These problems are not caused by market factors, but are due to misuse of power. The market doesn't decide, but mayors do and it's their vanity that decides the height of these towers," stated Zhai.

As for Ma Long, a leading architect with the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, a lack of confidence is to blame.

"We are still in the process of chasing economic or cultural goals since we are not confident in either. As a society, we are too eager to stand out and need constant acknowledgement from others," said Ma.

Building the highest tower is like owning a luxury item, it allows you to show off without being practical, he added.