Oriental Pearl TV Tower

Chinese name: 东方明珠塔 (Dongfang Mingzhu Ta)
Location: No.1 Century Avenue, Lujiazui Financial Trade Zone, Pudong district, Shanghai. It is adjacent to the Huangpu River and faces the Bund on the other side of the river.
Opening Time: 08:00- 19:30

Basic information about Oriental Pearl TV Tower

Time of completion: Oct.1, 1994;
Status: landmark of Shanghai; it is the first highest in Asia and the third highest in the world surpassed only by towers in Toronto of Canada and Moscow of Russia;
Heights: 350 meters high for the major structure, and 468 meters for the total height of the tower;
Structure: it consists of 11 spheres of different sizes at different levels supported by three nine-meter-wide slanting stanchions, creating a beauty of "large and small pearls dropping onto a jade plate";
Diameters: 50 meters for the first large sphere, 45 meters for the second large sphere, and 14 meters for the highest sphere;
Functions: combining sightseeing, conferences, exhibitions, food, shopping, amusement, accommodation, and radio and television emission.

Distribution of functional parts in the Oriental Pearl TV Tower

Supported by three stanchions, the Oriental Pearl includes the sightseeing spots in the space capsule, upper sphere, lower sphere, five small spheres, tower base and the square. Visitors travel up and down by double-decker elevators which can hold up to fifty people at the rate of seven meters per second.

The Tower provides 3 major sightseeing floors for a bird's eye view of the city in different height, separately in the heights of 98, 263 and 350 meters. The highest sightseeing site is the space capsule, and following is the main sightseeing site in the second sphere with the height of 263 meters, and the ones with heights of 259 meters and 90 meters are two outdoor sightseeing floors, of which the one in 259 meters high is an impending veranda that visitors can enjoy the full view of both sides of Huangpu River through clear glasses under their feet.

The famed Oriental Pearl Rotating Restaurant is located at the upper sphere in a height of 267 meters, ranking second in height in Asia. With a business area of 1500 square meters, it can serve 350 guests at the same time with advantaged landscapes, outstanding food and top-class service. In the lower sphere at the height of 90 meters, it has a Futuristic Space City; while in the base of the tower, it is the Shanghai Urban History Exhibition Hall and a Science Fantasy City. The five smaller spheres are a hotel provides twenty-five elegant rooms and lounges.

Nightscape of Oriental Pearl TV Tower

Erecting between the Yangpu Bridge in the northeast and the Nanpu Bridge in the southwest, Oriental Pearl has created a scene of "two dragons playing with pearls". If has a night view from the Bund along the Huangpu River at night, the tower's three-dimensional lights is glistening and dazzling, creating a most representative prosperous view of Shanghai together with the architecture museum of the Bund. Standing at the square under the tower, it is just amazing and marvelous at the great of this unique architecture.

Tickets:
- CNY100 for the sightseeing in the first large sphere;
- CNY135 for the sightseeing in the second large sphere plus the Exhibition Hall;
- CNY150 for the sightseeing in three spheres;
- CNY150 for the round-trip river tunnels, plus the sightseeing in the first and second spheres and Exhibition Hall;
- CNY35 for Shanghai Urban History Exhibition Hall;
- CNY200 for a buffet in the rotating restaurant for lunch (11:00-14:00), and CNY280 for dinner (17:00- 19:30)
How to get to Oriental Pearl TV Tower:
- take buses No.81, 82, 85, 583, 774, 795, 798, 799, 870, 961, 971, 985, 992, 993, 996 or the Lujiazui Tourist Lines and get off at the station of Oriental Pearl (Dong Fang Ming Zhu);
- take subway No.2 and get off at the station of Lu Jia Zui (陆家嘴站), and then walk about 300 meters to the Oriental Pearl;
- take tunnels No.3, 4 and 6.