Shanghai Tower

Shanghai Tower is a giant high-rise landmark skyscraper in Shanghai, China. Its design is much higher than that of the nearby Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC). It was officially completed in 2016, and became the highest buildings in China and the second tallest building in the world. Since then, with Jinmao Tower and SWFC, Shanghai Tower is regarded as a symbolic skycraper of the Shanghai skyline in Pudong new area.

As a comprehensive super high-rise building, it is mainly for office, and other business forms including exhibition, hotel, sightseeing and entertainment, commerce, etc. On April 27th, 2016, Shanghai Tower was opened for public operation for the first time. The “top of Shanghai” is a functional experience area, with city display and viewing observatory, entertainment, VIP small bar, catering, sightseeing and other functions.

Shanghai Center Tower is certified LEED-CS Platinum. It has also won the MIPIM “People's Choice Award”, the American Architecture Awards (AAP) Design of the Year Award, the 15th China Civil Engineering Zhan Tianyou Award, and the 2019 “BOMA Global Innovation Award”.

Shanghai Tower Facts

How Tall is the Shanghai Tower 

As of 2025, the Shanghai Tower remain the tallest building in China and the second tallest in the world. It is 192 meters lower than the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building located in Dubai (828 meters, 163 floors). It is 31 meters higher than the world's third tallest building, the Royal Bell Tower of Mecca (601 meters, 20 floors), located in Mecca.

Construction

The project area of Shanghai Tower is 433,954 square meters, the main building is 132 stories, the total height is 632 meters, and the structure height is 580 meters. The vehicle parking is arranged underground and it can park 2000 vehicles. It looks like a guitar pick, with a twist of nearly 1 degree per layer, forming a spiral appearance. There are also landscape lightings and theme light shows on the exterior of the high-rise buildings, which, in addition to the normal light display, also echo the landscape lightings of the surrounding buildings.

When Was the Shanghai Tower Built​

In 1993, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government formulated the “Shanghai Lujiazui Central District Planning and Design Program”, which planned that Jinmao Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center plus the Lujiazui Z3-2 site would be constructed as three super high-rise landmark buildings. 

On November 29, 2008, the construction work of the pile foundation of the main building of Shanghai Tower began. On August 3, 2013, the hoisting of the last steel beam of the main structure of Shanghai Tower was completed, achieving the topping out of the main structure and reaching a height of 125 floors and 580 meters as planned. On March 12, 2016, the overall construction work of the Shanghai Tower was completed.

On January 1, 2017, weather warning information covering the downtown area of Shanghai was released on the large screen at the 632-meter height of the crown of Shanghai Tower. On April 26 of the same year, the “Top of Shanghai” observatory on the 118th floor of the Shanghai Center Tower was opened to the public.

>> Recommended Shanghai tour packaegs with Shanghai Tower 

What is the Shanghai Tower Used for

Like most modern high-rise skyscrapers, Shanghai Tower is not just an office building. Each of the inside 9 districts of Shanghai Tower has its own sky lobby and atrium. Each floor of the sky lobby will have its own retail stores and restaurants, making it a vertical business district. The building has 24 hanging gardens, of which the 118th and 119th floors are the main sightseeing floors. The second floor underground is the tourist entrance. The elevators will take visitors directly to the 118th floor at a speed of 18 meters per second. The 125th and 126th floors of the building are also planning to provide sightseeing function, with heights of 580 and 583 meters.

What to See

Shanghai Tower Exhibition Hall

It is located on the first floor above ground of the main building of Shanghai Tower. The exhibition hall, in collaboration with high-quality resources both within and outside the industry, has successively held the "Silk Road Dunhuang · Happy Survival" cultural and art exhibition and the "The Three-Body Problem · Immersive Time and Space Exhibition".

The sculpture "Shanghai Girl"

At the entrance of the office lobby on the first floor of the main building of Shanghai Tower, there is a large-scale urban sculpture created by the late painter and artist Chen Yifei, in 2000. Standing at 3.08 meters tall, the sculpture "Shanghai Girl" transforms the image of Shanghai women from the 1930s to 1940s in a flat oil painting into a three-dimensional sculpture.

>> Recommended 4-day Shanghai Tour for Women

Olive Plaza

Located on the 37th floor above ground in the sky lobby of the Shanghai Tower, it was designed by the Dutch architect Alfonso Wolbert. The eight lost civilizations in human history, namely the Mycenaean civilization, the Babylonian civilization, the Etruscan civilization, the ancient Egyptian civilization, the Pompeian civilization, the Viking civilization, the Azite 兊 civilization and the mayan civilization, are displayed through stone pillars, totems and written symbols to warn people to cherish the existing cultural heritage that is constantly fading away.

Shanghai Guanfu Museum

It is located in the sky lobby on the 37th floor above ground of the main building of the Shanghai Tower. There are four fixed exhibition halls: the Porcelain Hall, the East-West Hall, the Goldware Hall and the Statue Hall, as well as one temporary exhibition hall.

Duoyun Bookstore

It is located in the sky lobby on the 52nd floor of the Shanghai Tower. Tourists can overlook the scenery on both banks (e.g. The Bund) of the Huangpu River from the floor-to-ceiling Windows.

Top of Shanghai Observatory

It is located on the 118th floor of Shanghai Tower. Take the world's fastest elevator and ascend to the 546-meter-high observation deck to overlook the panoramic cityscape of Shanghai and count down many famous buildings.

Treasure House Craftsmanship Museum

It is located on the 38th floor above ground of the main building of the Shanghai Tower. It gathers nearly a hundred Chinese masters of arts and crafts as well as national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritors, presenting the 5,000-year-old Chinese handicrafts to tourists with contemporary aesthetics.

The world's highest center for humanities and arts

On the 126th floor of the main building of Shanghai Tower, you can listen to the four-dimensional music works of world-class masters and enjoy the audio-visual experience brought by multimedia. At the center is the art sculpture "Shanghai's Wise Eye", weighing 7 tons. Its design inspiration comes from the "Eye of the Candle Dragon" in the "Shan Hai Jing".

>> Explore more of Shanghai's art at Shanghai M50 Art District

What to Do?

1. Enjoy a bird view of whole Shanghai city with 360-degree view. Taking the high-speed elevator to the "top of Shanghai" observatory at the 118th floor, you can find the enormous transparent glass wall makes the visual effect unparalleled. If it’s in a nice weather without cloud or fog, you can see the buildings from distance and find out the lovely and winding Hunagpu River and Suzhou River meeting at your feet. That’s a marvelous scene!

2. Send postcard from hanging post office. Write to your friends or families on the card with Shanghai Tower picture, showing this symbolic building to them. You can also bring some souvenirs from here.

3. Have a meal in the air. Enjoy a romantic meal with your friends in the air; it's a great way to see how the locals live while enjoying the food.

4. Do some entertainments like playing VR games, drinking in a bar, etc.

5. Appreciate photographic exhibition or other shows about art, Chinese history or culture. Let you know more about the process of building this master piece and the city.

News: Climbers Climbed to the Top of Shanghai Tower

In 2014 when the project of Shanghai Tower had not completed, 2 climbers, Vadim Makhorov and Vitaliy Raskalov, climbed over the construction wall. Without any safety measures, they climbed to the top of Shanghai's tallest building crane under construction by hands, nearly 650 meters high. The second time, they eluded securities, climbed to the top of the tower without a safety cord, and photographed Shanghai in the clouds.

How to get there?

It’s very convenient to take subway Line 2 to Shanghai Tower, getting off at Lujiazui Station, and walking 5 minutes, you can reach the destination. Or take subway Line 9, getting off at Shangcheng Road Station and walking for 9 minutes.

If you want to do some sightseeing of the city by bus, Bus 938, 961, 995 can also take you to the right place.

>> Explore more Shanghai travel tips