On the outskirts of one of China’s biggest industrial cities, across barren swampland, a 117-storey skyscraper rises through the dense smog.
When construction of Goldin Finance 117 is completed in the next two years, the world’s fifth-tallest building will offer tenants “a mesmerising architectural design”, with premium office space, a five-star hotel and an adjoining “mega high-end” shopping centre, all part of the only business district in the world to be built around a polo club.
“Xi’an has the Terracotta Army but Tianjin will have the Goldin tower and people will come from all over China to see it,” says a security guard at the site, where work has stopped during the bitter winter in north-eastern China.