WEEKLY GROSS-OUT: T30

Chinese construction workers have once again awed the world, this time by erecting a 30-story hotel in 360 hours in Hunan Province. The building is the latest achievement of Broad Sustainable Building (BSB), a Chinese construction company renowned for its eye-opening efficiency. Ground was broken on the hotel on December 2, 2011, in the Lin Gang Industrial Zone in Xiangyin County near the provincial capital Changsha. The building was completed in 15 days. Named T30, the 17,000-square-meter hotel is due to open on January 18, and is expected to be a five-star establishment. The hotel will feature 316 standard rooms, 32 suites, eight ambassador suites, and two presidential suites. Other facilities include a restaurant, bar, gym, and swimming pool on the top floor, underground parking space for 73 vehicles, and even a helicopter pad. The entire hotel cost a total of US$17 million to build. It’s looking to be one impressive hotel, but the main concern here is how BSB obtained the land. If precedent was followed, then that means the land that T30 rests on was expropriated by the Communist Party in a Mugabe-style land grab which, while legal, is morally wrong. The previous owners may have had homes that had been in their family since the Qing Dynasty or maybe earlier. If this continues, the people of China will soon have nowhere to go.