Bank Of China Buildings

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Lonely Planet review

The old Bank of China (BOC) building (2A Des Voeux Rd), built in 1950, now houses the bank's Central branch and, on the top three (13th to 15th) floors, the exclusive China Club, which evokes the atmosphere of old Shanghai. The BOC is now headquartered in the awesome Bank of China Tower (1 Garden Rd) to the southeast, designed by Chinese-born American architect IM Pei and completed in 1990.

The 70-storey Bank of China Tower is Hong Kong's third-tallest structure after Two International Finance Centre in Central and Central Plaza in Wan Chai. The asymmetry of the building is puzzling at first glance but is really a simple geometric exercise. Rising from the ground like a cube, it is successively reduced, quarter by quarter, until the south-facing side is left to rise upward on its own.

Many local Hong Kong Chinese see the building as a huge violation of the principles of feng shui. For example, the bank's four triangular prisms are negative symbols in the geomancer's rule book; being the opposite to circles, these triangles contradict what circles suggest - money, prosperity, perfection. The public viewing gallery ( - Mon-Fri) on the 43rd floor offers panoramic views of Hong Kong.