Mighty wall-climbing platform helps Chinese workers construct super-tall towers at staggering speed
China built more than half of the skyscrapers in the world last year, and it has no plan to slow its rapid urbanisation.
But how do its workers build sky-high towers so quickly?
A recent documentary has revealed the nation's secret weapon: a mighty skyscraper-building machine dubbed 'wall-climbing monster'.
The humongous building machine weighs 2,000 tonnes and is developed by Chinese engineers.
It provides a platform for workers to construct the building upwards, and can remain steady even at over 500 metres (1,640 feet) above the ground, according to a programme by China's state broadcaster CCTV.
It's also said the self-supporting platform can bear a weight of up to 2,000 tonnes and even withstand hurricane force.
CCTV claimed the machine, developed by the country's own engineers, could speed up the building process by 20 per cent.
With the help two tracks on each side and a total of 12 hydraulic jacks, the machine can push itself up evenly once workers finished building the several stories above - to create a new and higher working platform.
Each of the pivot points on the tracks can up to 400 tonnes in weight, an engineer told CCTV.
The machine is currently being used to build Wuhan Greenland Center in the provincial capital of Hubei.
The £3.3 billion 119-storey skyscraper is set to be complete by the end of 2018.
Standing 636 metres (2,086 feet) in height, the super-tall tower is due to be the tallest building in China - overtaking Shanghai Tower by four metres (13 feet).
Nowhere else in the world has more ambition in building skyscrapers than China.
The nation already has five out of the 10 tallest buildings in the world.
And last year it built 76 out of the world's 144 new skyscrapers - those taller than 200 metres (656 feet) - according Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
With such experience and efficiency, Chinese workers have branched out and started building skyscrapers for other countries.
A Chinese construction company is building a 106-storey skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, which is set to be the tallest building in Malaysia at 492 metres (1,614 feet).
Workers have managed to complete one story every three days using what they call 'the world's most advanced techniques', according to a previous report.
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