High stakes: How a supertall skyscraper came to divide China

Halfway through constructing one of the world’s tallest buildings work had to stop so that it could be redesigned. A city, actually, an entire country, demanded that a circular opening become a square.

Why? Well the story of this skyscraper illustrates perhaps more than any other the symbolic power of tall buildings. How they can transcend the steel and concrete they are made of and become something of even greater meaning. This isn't just the story of a building. It’s the story of the largest migration in human history. The story of the men who built modern day China. The story of the race to become the world’s next superpower.