If the Wener Riesenrad tower in the City Park of Vienna, built a century ago, can be regarded as a manifestation of theme park at that time, then a huge sky tower in Hangzhou might something about leisure concept.

The tower, built at the venue of the World Leisure Exposition, completed its construction on Monday and is regarded as the tallest tower in Asia, measuring 108 meters in height.

After construction has been completed, it will be operated for testing purpose before putting to use in April next year when the World Leisure Exposition kicks off.

The main body of the tower is built of high-quality steel rods with a round-shaped passenger cabin circling around it. The tower can rise up and down when turning around. It holds a capacity of 90 to 100 passengers at one time and the walls of the passenger cabin are built with full view windows that allow tourists have a panorama of the city in the air.

Some expert pointed out that while city dwellers in Hangzhou will have a new site to go, construction of the tower showed the organizing committee's intention to build the venue as a multi-functional center serving purposes like leisure, tourism, vacation and conference exhibition, etc.   

(Chinanews.cn September 13, 2005)