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Paper-Thin House, Star Trek Ship and 'Burger': China's Oddest Buildings (PHOTOS)

CC0 / / China view
China view - Sputnik International
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Just a couple of decades ago, most of China’s buildings looked like ordinary concrete squares void of any creativity. But times have changed, and so has the country’s modern architecture. Check out some of the most impressive and bizarre new buildings put up in China.

A Book or a Piece of Paper?

Much to the Internet's bemusement, on November 19 the People's Daily‏ Online newspaper tweeted several peculiar images of an illusionary building erected in Harbin, the capital and largest city of the China's northeastern Heilongjiang province.

From the side, the five-storey building in grey and mint colors gives the impression that it's as thin as a piece of paper, but its front looks like a book.

READ MORE: Japanese architects impress local social media users with absolutely mind-bending layouts of apartments

Futuristic Beauty of Shanghai - Sputnik International
Futuristic Beauty of Shanghai
Honeycomb-Inspired 'Alien Base'

Just several days before that, Chinese media published another bunch of photos, showing a weird hotel under construction in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Dubbed an "alien base," the building complex, covering an area of 105,000 square meters, is situated on a cliff edge in a mountainous area of Laoshan National Forest Park.

However, the design wasn't inspired by extraterrestrial forms of life — it is said to be inspired by a honeycomb.

'Burger Hotel'

Another hotel building took local media by storm due to its unusual location.

The eight-storey building, constructed in 2016 in Yanchuan county, Shaanxi province, is literally squeezed in between two steep cliffs, which is why many internet users nicknamed it a "roujiamo", a Chinese burger.

Starship Enterprise

The Most Cunning Optical Illusions in Architecture - Sputnik International
The Most Cunning Optical Illusions in Architecture
The shape of this building, which houses the software company DragonNet in China's Fujian province, looks like the legendary USS Enterprise, a spaceship from the Star Trek TV and movie franchise, and there is a reason why — Liu Dejian, the company's founder and one of China's most wealthy men, is a huge fan of the sci-fi franchise.

The Lotus Building

This truly impressive "flower" growing out of an artificial lake in Wujin, Jiangsu province, was designed by Australian architecture firm Studio 505.

The entrance to the building, which is home to departments of the city's planning bureau, can be found beneath the lake. At night, it looks even more stunning, when beautiful colorful lights illuminate it.

Gigantic Piano and Violin

Built in Huainan, Anhui Province, in 2007 by architectural students at Hefei University of Technology, this house is said to be used by city planners as a showroom. Its main piano-shaped part can be accessed via the glass violin, which serves as a staircase.

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