As part of the Bao’an Coastal Cultural Park, Shenzhen is scheduled to see a 128-meter Ferris Wheel rise along the coast, The Construction Index reports. That's just shorter than the London Eye (135m) and over twice as tall as the Hong Kong Observation Wheel (60m). When completed, the 'Shenzhen Glory' should include 28 carts, each of which will accommodate up to 25 people.
With this new glory, scheduled to open 2020 along with the first phase of the park, Shenzhen will join the ranks of cities like Singapore, Melbourne, Shanghai, Tianjin, Suzhou, Changsha... you get the picture. Over 80 cities boast a observation wheel, by our count.
But the Shenzhen Glory will be different: the contractor, Shenzhen OCT Coast, plans a centerless wheel. The carts of these wheels typically move along the path of the fixed outer rim, with the center left hollow for a striking silhouette. In Tokyo's Big O (currently the largest of this kind, at a mere 60m) the Thunder Dolphin roller coaster passes right through the center.
Of course, this all assumes the Shenzhen Glory avoids the sad fate of Changzhou's Turn of Fortune. As That's reported in 2015:
Despite completion in 2013, the Turn of Fortune has sat unused and untended in Changzhou's Bauhinia Park for two years now as it continues to await approval from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
Three years later, that fortune has yet to turn. The wheel is still listed as "unfinished."
With any luck, the fate of Shenzhen's colossal wheel will be different. With the city's unrelenting skyscraper boom and work on what will be China's next tallest building, Shenzhen clearly has the will to reach the sky.
While the contractor reportedly hasn't yet applied for construction permits, we remain hopeful that we'll see our Glory rise to new heights.
[Images via Laguarda.Low, Wikimedia Commons]
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