China’s gigantic bridges and buildings

Great empires throughout the ages have dared others to look on their works and despair. Today, China is building the most impressive monuments to itself—the world’s tallest buildings, longest bridges, and fastest trains. The Shanghai Tower (right) topped out in August at 125 stories, its soaring height bested only by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. In Changsha, Hunan province, the under-construction Sky City, with 220 planned stories, aims to remedy that. As China entombs its newfound wealth in a sarcophagus of steel and concrete, economically moribund Western countries can only look on in quiet despondency. The completion of great structures, however, has all too often coincided with busts and crises. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)