The Beijing-owned Bank of China opened for...
The Beijing-owned Bank of China opened for business in Hong Kong last week in a 70-story, prism-shaped skyscraper that dominates the city’s skyline and has sparked superstitious worries among residents.
The 1,289-foot-tall skyscraper, designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei, is the tallest building in the British colony, which is to be handed back to the Communist mainland in 1997.
But the building’s four right-angled triangular prisms, placed together to form a long, thin square column topped by twin antennas, have been condemned by many of the territory’s superstitious residents.
Scholars of fung shui --literally the study of wind and water--say the building’s design is a sure sign of bad luck. The sharp edges on the interlocking triangles that make up the sides of the building are said to be like daggers, the twin antennas that top off the tower like empty chopsticks. Both symbols are bad omens, according to fung shui.
Many of the more superstitious residents living near the building have hung small mirrors outside their windows to reflect the tower’s bad luck.
The project ran eight months behind schedule and millions of dollars over budget.
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