China Construction Miracle: Nation's tallest and 'lowest' skyscrapers - both in Shanghai

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The city of Shanghai is now home to China's highest and, at the same time, the "lowest" skyscrapers. The two buildings, completed over the past few years, have become the new icons of the city. CGTN's Han Peng takes a look.

HAN PENG SHANGHAI "It's perfect for a low-key visit down under China's largest city. This 19-story luxury hotel is the world's lowest skyscraper, or more precisely, an 'earth scraper'. With only two stories above ground, people on the other 17 floors pay over 600 US dollars per night for a view of a giant pit."

Xu Hongduo and her friend are two of the hotel's earliest guests. But they're not visiting Shanghai from far away, they live locally. They say their visits are mostly for afternoon coffee under the weekend sunshine.

Xu says like many Shanghainese, she's curious about fancy novelties and has waited for over 10 years for the hotel to finally open.

XU HONGDUO HOTEL CUSTOMER "It's very unique that when you look out the window, it's neither blue sky nor ocean, but a high cliff. I feel it's a place full of stories."

The hotel, located in suburban Shanghai, was a quarry 20 years ago. After its natural resources were exhausted, the location was slated to become a waste landfill. But as China tightened its environmental pollution controls, Shanghai decided to build in the quarry something even the miners couldn't imagine.

The Shanghai skylines are a showcase of China's speed in infrastructure construction.

MARCO MENG, SENIOR DIRECTOR SAVILLS SHANGHAI PROPERTY & ASSET MANAGEMENT "You can build a one-floor building in three days."

At 632 meters, the Shanghai Tower is the world's second tallest building, after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The building is a vertical city, with restaurants, offices, shopping malls and a sightseeing platform, offering a breathtaking view.

MARCO MENG, SENIOR DIRECTOR SAVILLS SHANGHAI PROPERTY & ASSET MANAGEMENT "When visitors come in, we have to make sure they do not go to the office, and that the retailers do not go to the hotel. So there's a lot of new technology we have to utilize to make sure everything can run smoothly."

China's speed, and modern management, forming a construction miracle in downtown Shanghai.

HAN PENG SHANGHAI "30 years ago, this area still had nothing but farmland. But today, the world's second tallest skyscraper, completed in 2015, has dwarfed all the other newly built high-rises here in Shanghai. And the city is still growing. Han Peng, CGTN, Shanghai."