The Jin Mao Tower was finished in 1999, and for a few years it was the tallest building in China. Standing between the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Shanghai Tower, it is easy to walk past. That would be a pity, because of the three it is the one that tried hardest to look Chinese. Four hundred and twenty metres, eighty-eight floors, and the whole silhouette1 is an argument about what a Chinese skyscraper should be.
金茂大厦 1999 年建成，此后有几年是中国第一高楼。它夹在东方明珠和上海中心中间，很容易被人一走而过。那有点可惜，因为三座里数它最用力地想长得像中国建筑。四百二十米，八十八层，整个轮廓就是一场关于中国的摩天楼该是什么样的争论。
Look at the way the building steps in as it rises. The setbacks are not random. The architect took the form of a Chinese pagoda2, the kind with many closely spaced eaves, and stretched it to the height of an office tower. The proportions change as it goes up, so the steps get closer together near the top, exactly as they do on a brick pagoda. The metal skin catches light differently at each level, which is why the building looks like it has texture rather than being one flat surface.
看它往上收的方式。那些退台不是随便定的。建筑师取的是中国密檐塔的形，就是屋檐一层紧挨一层的那种塔，把它拉到写字楼的高度。比例一路在变，越靠近顶端退台越密，砖塔就是这么砌的。金属外皮在每一层反光都不一样，所以这幢楼看上去有质感，而不是一整片平面。
Now the number. Eighty-eight floors is not an accident. In Chinese, the word for eight sounds close to the word for prosperity, so it is the most wanted number in the country. The tower goes further than the floor count. The plan is divided into sections of eight, the setbacks come in a rhythm built on eight, and even the proportions3 between the segments follow it. Your guests will ask why Chinese buildings care about numbers. This is the clearest example in the city.
再说这个数字。八十八层不是碰巧。中文里八的读音接近发财的发，所以是全国最受欢迎的数字。这座塔比层数走得更远，平面按八分段，退台的节奏建立在八上，连各段之间的比例也照着它来。客人会问中国建筑为什么在意数字，这是全市最清楚的一个例子。
Two things are worth your time inside. The observation deck on the eighty-eighth floor sits at three hundred and forty metres, lower than the Shanghai Tower but close enough to the river to give you a better view of the Bund. And in the hotel that occupies the upper floors there is an atrium4 that runs more than thirty storeys straight down through the middle of the building. Standing at the rail and looking down that shaft is the thing people remember, and it costs nothing if you buy a drink. We have about an hour. If you only have time for one tower today, tell me which view matters more to you, the river or the height, and I will tell you which one to go up.
楼里有两样值得花时间。八十八层的观光厅在三百四十米，比上海中心低，但离江更近，看外滩的角度反而更好。占据高层的那家酒店里有一个中庭，从楼体中间一直贯通三十多层。站在栏杆边往下看那道井，是大家记得住的东西，点一杯饮料就能看。我们大约停一小时。今天如果只来得及上一座塔，告诉我你更在意哪种景，是江面还是高度，我告诉你该上哪一座。