Essay | The global centre

The story of China’s economy as told through the world’s biggest building

It is a microcosm that reveals how much China is master of its own fate

|CHENGDU

1 The global centre

THE WORLD’S biggest building got off to a bad start. On the eve of its opening, Deng Hong, the man who built the mall-and-office complex, disappeared.

This article appeared in the Essay section of the print edition under the headline “The global centre”

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