The New Century Global Center, now the world’s largest structure by square meters, has opened in Chengdu. It is a massive structure covering 1.76 million sq m, or enough room to store 20 Sydney Opera Houses. It measures 100 m high, 500 m long and 400 m wide. Number two on the list of the world’s largest buildings is Dubai’s International Airport Terminal 3, at 1.71 million sq m, while Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 1 ranks 18th, with 6.3 million sq m. A selection of luxury stores, two five-star hotels, an IMAX cinema and an entire water park are all present in the New Century Global Center, which also contains a 5,000 sq m man-made beach that will feature artificial sunrises and sunsets, made possible through Japanese lighting technology. While its size may be immense, construction of the building only took three years. The New Century Global Center is one of several architecture projects, including a new subway line and an airport, that have been planned for Sichuan province’s capital city. One of the investors in the New Century Global Center and Chairman of the Chengdu Expedition and Travel Group, Deng Hong, is currently under investigation for alleged corruption.

The value of land sales in major cities increased sharply in the first half of the year as developers replenished land banks after a rebound in property sales since the end of last year. Figures from China Real Estate Information Corp show Hangzhou’s local government generated CNY60.13 billion from land sales over the past six months, 477% more than the CNY10.42 billion taken in the first half of last year. Property sales have been strong since the end of last year. Many developers have completed financing early this year, offering them sufficient capital to replenish land banks. In Guangzhou, the total value of land sales increased by 384% to CNY37.64 billion from a year ago, while Beijing’s land sales value surged 358% to CNY66.42 billion. Shanghai generated CNY74.23 billion from land sales, 297% more than in the previous year. The value of Shenzhen’s land sales jumped 274% to CNY11.16 billion. “Most of the developers are also shifting their acquisition targets from sites in second-tier cities to first-tier cities,” said Du Jinsong, Research Analyst at Credit Suisse. Local governments released more sites for sale in the first half. The Hangzhou government sold 30 sites in the past six months, compared with only 19 in the previous year. Shanghai released 55 sites, compared with 44 sites a year ago. Dickson Wong, Chief Executive at Centaline (China) for northern and southwest China, believes land supply would stay at high levels in the second half and land prices would continue to rise in major cities, the South China Morning Post reports.

Consumer confidence in Shanghai dropped to a nine-month low during the second quarter of this year due to a weaker domestic economy, fewer job opportunities and a sharp decline in the stock market. The Index of Consumer Confidence shed 1.8 points from a year earlier to 103.2 in the three months ending in June, a study conducted by the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics showed. A reading above 100 points to optimism. The latest figure fell from 106.8 in the first quarter and 107.5 in the last quarter of 2012, indicating a continued loss of confidence among Shanghai’s consumers.

Shanghai Jiao Tong and Fudan universities signed cooperation agreements with Coursera to offer courses online in both Mandarin and English. About 2.7 million people worldwide have signed up for these massive, open online courses, known as MOOCs. “The online courses will enable students around the globe to learn whatever they are interested in and receive world-class education anytime and anywhere,” said Huang Zheng, Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Huang said this new way of learning was the biggest revolution in education history since printing was invented. He said universities should accept and quickly adapt to this new concept and prepare for the future. Huang said online courses can help narrow the education quality gap between different regions as students can interact with world-class professors.

Archaeologists have discovered some of the world’s oldest known primitive writing, dating back 5,000 years, in east China. The inscriptions on artifacts found are about 1,400 years older than the oldest written Chinese language. Chinese scholars are divided over whether the markings are words or something simpler, but they say the finding will shed light on the origins of Chinese language and culture. The oldest writing in the world is believed to be from Mesopotamia, dating back slightly more than 5,000 years. Chinese characters are believed to have been developed independently. Inscriptions were found on more than 200 pieces dug out from the Neolithic-era Liangzhu relic site in Zhejiang province. The pieces are among thousands of fragments of ceramic, stone, jade, wood, ivory and bone excavated from the site between 2003 and 2006, lead archaeologist Xu Xinmin said. One of the pieces has six word-like shapes strung together to resemble a short sentence.