Living the high life after tower reopens
The view from above for this family after Shanghai Tower reopened to visitors on Thursday.
Visitors to Shanghai Tower on Thursday are welcomed with gifts.
Shanghai resident Gu didn’t expect to be the first visitor to Shanghai Tower when it reopened on Thursday morning. He had gone for a morning stroll and decided to visit the city’s tallest building on a whim.
He arrived at the ticket office around 10:30am and spent 245 yuan (US$35) on a visit that would include a tour to the observatory on the 118th and 119th floors, and the art space on the 125th and 126th floors.
“I wanted to have a ‘top of Shanghai’ journey,” he said.
After him, several people who had bought tickets online arrived.
They included Li and a colleague who were taking the chance to visit the tower as their company had not yet resumed work.
Yang Yuanyuan, who lives in the Huamu area of Pudong, came with her mother and 5-year-old daughter.
Yang, native of Zhejiang Province, has been in Shanghai for eight years but her mother lives in Zhejiang. They spent Spring Festival in Shanghai but the epidemic ruined their plans to travel around the city.
“We’ve been trapped at home all the time during the epidemic,” Yang said. “Early this morning, I read the tower’s official WeChat account and was surprised to find that it reopened today,” she said. “My daughter loves enjoying beautiful views from a distance.”
Visitors to the tower on Thursday were all treated to cake. The first 10 visitors received a souvenir bag of with a 3D paper model of the tower and a postcard with the signature of general manager Gu Jianping and the words: “The cloud is fading away and a bright day is arriving.”
“It’s such a surprise,” Gu, the first visitor, said, as he sat in the observatory’s café, enjoying the cake and the city skyline. He added: “I like to go out. Before the Spring Festival, I had a trip to the water town of Xitang. But then the epidemic hit the city and forced tourist destinations to close.”
“Today is a special day,” said Gu Jianping. “Our observatory reopens, and I hope that we can return to normal life soon.”
Twisting 632 meters above Lujiazui, Shanghai Tower is the world’s second tallest building. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, it closed its doors to visitors on January 24.
Tang Difei, deputy operating director of the tower’s culture and tourism department, said the tower will limit daily visitors to no more than 5,000, about half of its maximum capacity.
Tang wasn’t worried about large numbers of visitors because usually nearly 30 percent were foreigners and many of them are under quarantine after arriving in China.
Visitors are required to show their ID cards and health QR codes before entry. Anyone with a temperature over 37.2 Celsius degrees is asked to leave. Visitors are guided to keep at least 1 meter from each other, and no more than six people can be in an elevator at any one time.
Every 40 minutes, every corner of the observatory is disinfected, especially key areas such as digital screens, litter bins and toilets. Every two hours, the observatory will be disinfected thoroughly. While one of its floor is being disinfected, visitors will be guided to the other floor.
A customer reads a book at the Duoyun Bookstore on the 52nd floor of Shanghai Tower.
The Duoyun Bookstore on the tower’s 52nd floor has also reopened. Besides a registration system and health inspections, the bookstore has implemented special prevention measures, according to store manager Jiao Qing.
Staff members are required to disinfect all books and customers must put any book they touch on trolleys for disinfection. Customers must also use hand sanitizer or wear gloves if they want to have a close look at any other items on the shelves.
The dining service remains closed but coffee is available. Disposable paper cups are used, and no more than 35 customers are served at any one time.
The store is open from 11am to 7pm, three hours fewer than usual, with only 60 to 70 customers allowed in a day, a cut of nearly 20 percent, Jiao said. At 11am on Thursday, just 10 customers were at store.
The store has joined a city-wide campaign to cheer up people in Wuhan.
Until March 18, customers can write messages of support on postcards from the store which will be sent to officials, medical workers and others on the front line.
