Yujiapu Financial District

Yujiapu Financial District (simplified Chinese: 于家堡金融区; traditional Chinese: 于家堡金融區; pinyin: Yújiāpù Jīnróng Qū; also Yujiabao) is a central business district currently under construction in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin. The area is envisioned as a potential center for world trade and finance.^[1] The district is being developed with a total investment of about 200 billion yuan, and is located on the Hai River North Shore, along with the Xiangluowan Business District and Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA). Also, the Yujiapu Financial District is an APEC low-carbon demonstration town.^[2] The district is modeled after New York City's Manhattan.^[3] In 2019, the term Yujiapu began to fade, and the high-speed rail Yujiapu Station was renamed Binhai railway station (see Binhai, Tianjin).

Location

Yujiapu is a peninsula located in the core area of the Tianjin Binhai New Area; it covers the entire block east, west and south facing the Hai River, an area totaling 3.86 square kilometers (1.49 sq mi). The area is located 40 kilometers (25 mi) from the Tianjin city center and 150 kilometers (93 mi) from Beijing. The site is 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) from the core district of the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA), with the southern tip of the site only a 10-minute drive from the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA). From the air, the whole Yujiapu region is shaped like a "pocketbook", is the upper hand in Sheung Shui land. It is already under construction on the west side of Xiangluowan business district, south of the future will be planning the construction of ecological residential area, east of the island shaped like a whale. To the west there is the Hai Kaiqi Bridge, with the Yongtai Rd traveling east–west in the north, and Sanhuai Rd traversing the peninsula from the north to the south.

A view of the Hai River

Ghost city

The district was expected to open in June 2014,^[4] but has suffered from a construction slowdown.

One local was quoted as saying “All of these tall buildings just appeared.” In addition the "area is prone to flooding from storm surges and heavy rain" as it is “built on coastal salt flats just a few inches above sea level.. as a local resident told the Times in 2012, after nasty weather… “you had to roll up your pants and take off your shoes to walk across the street.”^[5] As of 2015, construction was halted on many projects as the builders packed up and left the city, as the $50 billion project was heavily in debt.^[6]^[7]

Around 2016, property buyers started moving into the district. In 2019, some government functional agencies of the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Zone Administrative Committee moved to Baoxin Building in Yujiapu.

Buildings

As of 2015^[update], of the nearly 41 projects that can be seen in Xiangluo Bay, nearly 22 buildings are still in an unfinished state. There are a number of substantial buildings under construction on the peninsula,^{[citation needed]} including:

Liqin Hotel
Yujiapu Administrative
Shangbang Leasing Tower
Shenglong International Finance Center
Yujiapu Twin Tower I and II
Zheshang Building
Wenzhou Building
China Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Building
R&F Guangdong Building

Across the bridge in the Xiangluowan Business District there are a number of buildings, including:^{[citation needed]}

Binhai Cathay Tower
AVIC International Plaza
R and F Tower
Zovie Plaza I and II
Guangyao Dongfang Plaza Tower I and II

Note also the Yujiapu Free Trade Zone.

References

^ Henry Sanderson, Michael Forsythe China's Superbank: Debt, Oil and Influence 2012 -- Page 24 "Yet there's a point where ambition and enthusiasm becomes recklessness and hubris, and Tianjin may have crossed that line. There's no better place to witness the physical manifestation of hubris than Yujiapu, Tianjin's planned Manhattan."
^ APEC Low Carbon Model Town (LCMT) Project: Tianjin Yujiapu Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Organization), Nikken Sekkei Research Institute - 2011
^ "Few Signs of Construction at Yujiapu, China's Manhattan Replica". NBC News. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
^ 天津于家堡有望成为北方区域金融中心. Xinhua News. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^ "China's replica Manhattan is a half-built, abandoned ghost town amid economic woes". 12 February 2015.
^ "Ghost city: Chinese replica of Manhattan stands empty as economy slows". 10 February 2015.
^ "Inside China's ghost cities | 60 Minutes Australia". YouTube.

External links

China's Manhattan Knock-off, The China Chronicle
No longer a ghost town

[1] Henry Sanderson, Michael Forsythe China's Superbank: Debt, Oil and Influence 2012 -- Page 24 "Yet there's a point where ambition and enthusiasm becomes recklessness and hubris, and Tianjin may have crossed that line. There's no better place to witness the physical manifestation of hubris than Yujiapu, Tianjin's planned Manhattan."

[2] APEC Low Carbon Model Town (LCMT) Project: Tianjin Yujiapu Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Organization), Nikken Sekkei Research Institute - 2011

[3] "Few Signs of Construction at Yujiapu, China's Manhattan Replica". NBC News. Retrieved 11 November 2014.

[4] 天津于家堡有望成为北方区域金融中心. Xinhua News. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2014.

[5] "China's replica Manhattan is a half-built, abandoned ghost town amid economic woes". 12 February 2015.

[6] "Ghost city: Chinese replica of Manhattan stands empty as economy slows". 10 February 2015.

[7] "Inside China's ghost cities | 60 Minutes Australia". YouTube.

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