Pudong · CN

Oriental Pearl TV Tower

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is Shanghai's most instantly recognizable landmark — a 468-meter fusion of futuristic engineering and classical Chinese poetic imagery that has defined the city's skyline since 1994. Rising from the tip of Lujiazui's financial district on the banks of the Huangpu River, its eleven spheres — the largest strung like luminous pearls along three towering columns — were directly inspired by a Tang Dynasty poem about the sound of a pipa being played. Standing on the transparent glass skywalk 259 meters above the city, or watching the Bund's colonial-era facades glow amber from the revolving restaurant as the tower rotates beneath you, this is one of those rare attractions that fulfills every expectation a first-time visitor might carry.