Bank of China

The imposing Bank of China Building, opened in 1989, was briefly the tallest building in Hong Kong, but was overtaken three years later by the Central Plaza in Causeway Bay, just 6m/20ft higher. However it is still one of the highest skyscrapers in the world and the sixth highest outside the USA.

Sharply angular in plan, the building was designed by the internationally famed Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei and took only four years to complete.

(Ieoh Ming Pei, who lives in New York, also designed the glass pyramid in the Louvre in Paris).

Standing 368.5m/1209ft high, this obelisk-like edifice is dominated by triangles and pyramids, shapes considered by the adherents of feng shui to be likely to cause trouble and unrest. However, as superstition is now officially regarded in China as feudalistic and outmoded the Chinese were happy to build the offices in accordance with Pei's plans. Nevertheless, the fact that they still believe in the magical powers of certain numbers was clearly indicated in the date aimed at for the official opening, namely 8.8.(19)88, a highly propitious combination of figures; unfortunately building delays meant that it was not completed in time.

The former offices of the Bank of China, at 2A Des Voeux Road, now house the Tsui Museum of Art, which has a collection of over 3000 Chinese antiquities (ceramics, bronzes, woodcarving, etc.).