You either love it or hate it – that seems to be the consensus about the new Guangdong Plastics Exchange building, scheduled for completion by the end of this year. And it’s not the USD 158m price tag that has some questioning the new trade centre – it is its design. A circular building with a hole in the middle, Italian architects A.M. Progretti say it is supposed to resemble ancient Chinese jade discs. However, critics contend that the structure resembles old Chinese coins, and thus symbolises a quest for wealth.

Of course an investment in China’s plastics industry is always on the money. But there is yet another side to the coin. The hole in the middle also conforms to the Chinese feng shui tradition. Similar structures are found in Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay – only that these buildings conform to the traditional square structure. The hole, Hong Kong residents believe, will allow the dragon – which is what they call the mountain the building is set upon – to continue drinking from the Bay. With a river passing the new Guangdong Plastics Stock Exchange, any fabled creature will be sure to leave the building intact on its way to the watering hole…