Touch the sky. Twice.

Light up the night
Shanghai, China
May 2012

There's something humbling about standing at street level and peering up, way up, toward the tops of buildings that sometimes literally disappear into the sky. The Shanghai World Financial Center (left) and Jing Mao Tower are easily capable of humbling even the most casual passers-by.

This is a city of skyscrapers. These giants of that connect land and sky are an ever tangible sign of this city's and this country's emergence onto the global economic stage. The forest of cranes that fill in the spaces confirm that the building boom is far from over. When I was here last time, the building on the left was still under construction, and a year removed from completion. If you look carefully in the middle of the photo, that little nubbin at the bottom is the rising form of the Shanghai Tower, which will eventually top out at 121 storeys (2,073 feet) and easily dominate its neighbors.

As I stared at this impossible-to-fathom scene, I quietly thought a return trip would be in order a few years from now, if only to see what other wonders had been added to the skyline.

Your turn: Can you think of one building that stands out in your mind? Why?