China Built a 117-Story Megatower — And It's Already Falling Apart

Deep in the Tianjin Basin outside Beijing stands Goldin Finance 117 — a 597-meter, 117-story megatower that is completely abandoned. It is the tallest abandoned building in human history, and the reason why has almost nothing to do with engineering. This is the story of how a billionaire's vision for an entirely new luxury district — complete with polo fields, a wine museum, and the highest observation deck on Earth — collided with a stock market crash, a construction industry that couldn't stop pouring concrete once it started, and a market that never showed up. Inside this video: the 941 piles and the 120-hour continuous concrete pour that gave Goldin Finance 117 one of the most sophisticated foundations ever built, the mega-columns that let it survive typhoon winds and seismic loads, the 2015 stock crash that silenced the site overnight, and the slow, unstoppable physics of what happens when a 117-story concrete-and-steel skeleton is left exposed to rain, freezing winters, and rust for nearly a decade. You'll also see why China's later ban on supertall buildings makes finishing the tower nearly impossible — and why demolishing it may be even harder. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The 117-Story Tower Nobody Uses 01:08 Not an Engineering Failure 01:56 The Billionaire's Vision Behind Goldin 117 03:21 Engineering an Impossible Foundation 04:22 Building the Mega-Columns 05:14 The Topping-Out Ceremony 05:32 The Money Stops 06:58 How an Unfinished Skyscraper Begins to Decay 08:32 The Market That Never Came 09:22 The End of China's Supertall Era 10:31 Trapped Between Finishing and Demolition 11:19 The Final Paradox Let's discuss: Should a structure this large ever be completed after sitting unfinished for years, or is demolition the more rational option? Was the project's biggest mistake financing, location, market demand, or the decision to build at this scale? Does Goldin Finance 117 represent engineering success, economic failure, or both? #GoldinFinance117 #ChinaMegaproject #AbandonedSkyscraper