Not to be left behind by its urban counterparts, one of China's richest village, Huaxi, has built a 328m skyscraper hotel at a cost of $470 million, sending clear indication of the country’s economic growth. The Longxi International Hotel in the village of Huaxi has been built to celebrate the village's 50th anniversary. The village, located in east China's Jiangsu province, has become the first rural area in the world to have its own skyscraper.
The hotel boasts 800 suites that can hold 2,000 people, an exhibition hall, a revolving restaurant, and rooftop swimming pools and gardens. A sculpture of a bull, made from solid gold and reportedly weighing a tonne, has also been installed. The bull, a testament to the wealth of the village, will greet visitors from a viewing area on the sixtieth floor of the tower.
The 74-storey hotel has taken four years to complete and is now ranked as the 15th highest skyscraper in the world, taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris (324m) and the Chrysler Building in New York (319m).
Once a poor farming community, Huaxi has boomed during the past half a century of China’s economic reform growing from a population of around 1,600 grow to 50,000 today. If statistics are to be believed, then every family has at least one house, two cars and $250,000 in the bank. The residents enjoy universal health care and free education.
Officials attend an inauguration ceremony for the new skyscraper tower in Huaxi village, Jiangsu province, October 8, 2011.
A view of the new skyscraper tower of Huaxi village during a hazy day in Huaxi village, Jiangsu province, October 7, 2011.
A view of villas built for residents in the Huaxi village of Jiangyin, Jiangsu province May 31, 2010.
A man watches the Huaxi village, at Jiangsu province December 2, 2010.
A steel worker walks as the new skyscraper tower of Huaxi village is seen in Huaxi, Jiangsu province, October 7, 2011.
A woman stands next to a solid gold statue of an ox during the official inauguration of a skyscraper tower in Huaxi village, Jiangsu province, October 8, 2011.
Story: AOL, Photos: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
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