Inside Jin Mao Tower

It is strange for me. Jin Mao tower has been the symbol of Shanghai, along with the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, for many years. But I never really went into the tower.

I went to the top deck of Oriental Pearl TV Tower for twice, was amazed of the nice view, but completely unsatisfied with the facility and service there. It is more like a tourism place (actually it is), instead of a restaurant. It is somewhere you only need to go for once in your entire life.

Influenced by the experience, I hesitate to try the Jin Mao Tower. I have been to the office building of the Jin Mao tower (lower than 54F). The impression is so-so. It is just normal office building with a better view. When there is strong wind or it is raining, the steel decoration outside makes big noise. So, I didn’t try the 88F observation deck or the hotel. Tonight is the first time I really goes into the Jin Mao Tower. It is exactly the difference of Enjoy Doing or Being Able to Do. The experience, in short, is fascinating.

86 F Jin Mao Club

Tom and Andreas were kind enough to invite me to have dinner together at the 86F Jin Mao club. The restaurant faces west, the direction of Puxi. The view was optimized for us today since the visibility is low, but the topic we discussed really inspired me. Andreas is so passionate to try news things that he put a Canon camera pointing to us and take one picture every ten second during the talk. I don’t know how he produces it and what the result of so many pictures. I don’t worry about it though because Dr. Weigend is the professor on Data Mining in Stanford University, so he must know some good ways to find something interesting outside a mass. Not surprisingly, our photos arrived on the public Internet quicker than I arrived in my home.

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© Andreas Weigend.

56 F Lobby

Later, I went to the lobby at 56F of Jin Mao Tower. Jin Mao is a complicated building. The Lobby of the Hyatt hotel is at 54F, and you need to change the elevator to 56 F lobby. (86F club is nore wired that you need to get to 85 F first and exchange for the third elevator.) There are great public areas and it was almost full when we were there. Looking up, you will see the most famous view of the tower (ranked immediately after the exterior look) – the hall to the top of the 86F. I didn’t bring my camera with me, but the view looks like this. I didn’t realize we were at the bottom of such as huge vertical tube. When I looked up, I heard WOW coming out of my mouth. Later, I asked Andreas to look up – he didn’t notice it yet, and he said: “WOW….”.

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© Dr. Andreas Weigend

I am happy to have the rest of the time with JL, Lisa and Zhang there.

More Jin Mao pictures.

7 thoughts on “Inside Jin Mao Tower

  1. Well Jianshuo, now you’ve had the experience, congratulations !

    I have been to the observation deck 6 times, and Cloud9 1 time,

    I’m a little amazed, that you have never “made it to the top”.

    In fact Jinmao Dasha has an aluminium structure outside for the looks, not made of steel.

    This building truly inspires many photographers and spectators around it.

    When I go to work every morning, I can see the lights changing from minute to minute, creating a spectacular effect for every change of view.

    This is basically because of the web-like aluminium framework made on the outside the building.

    Last year there was parachuting (“base-jumping”) from the tower – 10’s of thousands were watching when the dare-devils dropped down from the platforms on top of the tower.

    To get a better view, I actually went to Oriental Pearl Tower, 2’nd ball, to get amazing good videoshots ! People were quite understanding about my purpose and moved aside, even it was very crowded because of the so special event.

    At the F1 boat racing I went to Jinmao to get some good shots too. The ticket price of 50 RMB were peanuts compared to the price for entering the official tribunes along Huangpu River.

    Please bear in mind that soon the MotoGP (motorcycle racing) is coming to Shanghai Circuit, at a much lower fee than the F1 car race. This circuit is definitely not only made for the F1 car race…

  2. That view of the interior hall was something I happened upon accidentally – from the top down. I was on the observation deck, and walked to the inside to see what was under the glass in the middle of the room – it was that 30 story drop! I’m not one who is normally afraid of heights, but I’ll have to admit to jumping back. It reminded me a little of the view in one of the Star Wars movies – down down down without end.

  3. I went to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower two years ago ,standing on the second ball ,the view is so fasnating , but the elevator is two fast ,i think ,I felt not so good ,maybe it is especially not comfortable for the old.I think i will go to the J M Tower when i am not busy.

  4. Yall need more information about the Jin Mao Tower like the purpose of building the Jin Mao Tower. Im not trying to be mean or any thing like that. im just leting yall know.

  5. Could anyone give me some suggestion who should I contact to get all correct info. of Jin Mao tower? I have been considering to invest one restaurant at Jin Mao. Any idea?

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