The site had been completely transformed by December 2012, with the newly-constructed Olympic Stadium (right) the main attraction. This picture also shows the Aquatics Centre (far left), with the Water Polo Arena in the foreground. Also visible is the 115-meter ((377 ft) ) high observation tower known as The ArcelorMittal Orbit, a landmark helter-skelter of a structure designed by artist Anish Kapoor and taller than Big Ben and New York’s Statue of Liberty.

The ArcelorMittal Orbit, a teetering tower planned for the 2012 Olympic Games, is set to become the largest work of public art in the United Kingdom. The tower, named after steel magnate and the richest man in London, Lakshmi Mittal, consists of almost 1,000 tonnes of steel which visitors will be able to climb. The Tower of Babel was apparently a reference, according to Kapoor; “There is a kind of medieval sense to it of reaching up to the sky, building the impossible. A procession, if you like. It’s a long winding spiral: a folly that aspires to go even above the clouds and has something mythic about it.”

Ten years ago, a ranking of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers included precisely three entries from China. The most powerful of these — a system used to run credit management software at the Agricultural Bank of China — was ranked number 150.

The latest version of the Top500 list — published on Monday at the SC11 conference by the group of high performance computing enthusiasts who maintain it — contains 74 Chinese computers, including the second most powerful supercomputer in the world, the Tianhe 1-A.

Japan widened its lead at the top with the Fujitsu-designed K Computer at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Sciences attaining an Rmax score of 10.5 petaflops, according to the Linpack benchmark, versus the 2.5 petaflops of the Chinese Tianhe-1a. America’s fastest supercomputer (and former number one), Oak Ridge National Labs’ Jaguar, keeps the number three spot.

China continues its technical ascendancy with 74 systems in the Top500, putting it second overall after the US’s 263. This is up from 61 systems in June, 41 in November 2010, 25 In June 2010 and 21 in November 2009.

More and more Chinese systems use domestically developed processors or interconnect technologies. China’s most powerful computer, the Tianhe-1a, gets the bulk of its processing power from 7,168 Nvidia Tesla GPUs and 14,336 Intel CPUs, but it also gets some of its technical prowess from 2,048 FT1000 heterogeneous processors developed by the country’s National University for Defence Technology (NUDT).

China took the world by surprise last month when it unveiled a supercomputer based on a previously unknown home-grown RISC-based microprocessor, called the ShenWei SW1600. That system, called the Sunway BlueLight MPP supercomputer, is now ranked number 14. The Sunway BlueLight can perform one quadrillion mathematical calculations per second (1 petaflop). That seems like a lot, until you consider that the top-ranked computer on the Top500 list, Japan’s K Computer, is 10 times as powerful, and the first computer ever to break the 10 petaflop barrier. More and more Chinese systems built with domestic technology seem set to appear in the list. The country is developing a petaflop supercomputer named the Dawning 6000 that will get its processing power from Chinese Loongson processors. In a wider sense, the country has vowed to develop an exascale computer — a system at least 100 times more powerful than the K Computer — by the end of the decade and hopes to use many of its own technologies in the system, weaning it from dependence on companies like Nvidia and Intel.

ORNL’s Jaguar is currently undergoing an upgrade that should lift it to 10 to 20 petaflops late next year or early in 2013, which – all other things remaining equal – will push it past both Tinahe-1A and K to become the fastest computer in the world once more. The upgrade will bestow upon Jaguar a new name – Titan – as well as an emerging kind of technological edge in the form of graphics processing units, or GPUs.

GPUs are a relatively cheap and simple means of boosting the speed of conventional processors by adding a parallel computing aspect that can juggle more than one task simultaneously. Where a traditional CPU can have up to 16 computing cores, a GPU can have hundreds. That means that for certain kinds of calculations a GPU can divide and conquer in ways that CPUs cannot, pushing GPU-augmented systems to blistering speeds. GPUs as supercomputer accelerators have really only been around for a few years, but according to the team over at NVIDIA they have now found their way into 35 systems on the TOP500, three of which are in the top 5. At the beginning of last year, there were less than 10 systems taking advantage of GPU acceleration. As the world’s biggest computers continue to incorporate them, we will likely see more existing systems take big leaps forward in terms of speed – and perhaps see more volatility at the top of the list.

With 168 rooms, Les Suites Orient is the largest boutique hotel in Shanghai. The building’s foundation and first four floors date back to 1860; the then-Orient Hotel added another 19 floors in the 80s, before Taiwanese management group Les Suites came onboard in 2006. Les Suites Orient soft opened in April, 2010.Offering true Taiwanese hospitality, guests enjoy little touches like Gilchrist & Soames bath products, room key cards that double as Shanghai traffic cards and a bedside control panel for everything from lowering the shades to calling for housekeeping.

Despite its size, Les Suites Orient retains its charm with homey common spaces, a small yet warmly decorated restaurant and eclectic decor that mixes vintage radios with traditional Chinese pottery.

The river-facing rooms of this Shanghai boutique hotel provide sweeping views of the entire Bund and the curve of the Huangpu River. The night view is particularly impressive when buildings on both sides of the river are lit up.

Les Suites Orient, 1 Jinling Dong Lu, near Zhongshan Dong Er Lu, +86 21 6320 0088, room rates: from RMB 1,600 + 15 percent, http://www.hotelsuitesorient.com

上海東方商旅酒店位於南北外灘交界的中心點，對望浦東陸家嘴，後連豫園及十六鋪碼頭觀光區。樓高23層，外觀為三零年代裝飾性藝術（Art Deco）設計，與鄰近的萬國百年保留建築物息息相關，1947年，蔣介石為了回奉化老家而從上海乘輪船到寧波，為了能讓蔣介石有休息之處，招商局特別在此設立一小間招待室，從此，這裡成為國民黨官員乘船的休息所。現在的東方商旅建築，是1985年所興建，過去的歷史，靜靜地成為這塊土地的記憶。

上海東方商旅酒店擁有豪華客房、套房，能以270°視野盡覽北外灘、南外灘、浦東、浦西江景的景觀酒店，深刻感受浦西史蹟與浦東摩登時空交錯相互輝映。客房設計由簡單線條交織而成，以柚木地板展現溫暖氛圍，透過柔和光暈色調營造「家」的舒適。

延續台北商旅（Les Suites Taipei）低調奢華的風格，由知名設計師吳宗岳跨刀, 將過去上海灘的靈感注入與30年代裝置性藝術元素優雅的融合。為使每位客人享受到最貼心的酒店服務，館內皆配置有最新進的科技設備與服務，包括獨步市場的商旅行動生活手機及2、3樓Le Lounge提供的早餐與全天候咖啡、茶、精緻糕點、無線網絡均免費使用，讓房客彷彿置身於自家客廳中自在且溫馨。

東方商旅
地址：中國上海市金陵東路1號
電話：86(21)6320-0088
網站：www.lessuitesorient.com
交通資訊：位於南北外灘交界的東方商旅，居中山東路和金陵東路口，由中山東路可連接各高速幹道，及通往浦東之延安隧道、復興東路隧道與人民路隧道。乘車5分可到二號線地鐵南京東路站，轉往浦東及虹橋機場。

Two unmanned spacecraft successfully docked in what many Chinese call their space program’s first “space kiss” early Thursday morning, Beijing time.

The docking about 340 km (211 miles) above Earth between a prototype space-station module, Tiangong 1 (launched from Jiuquan on Sept. 29 in northwest China), and the unmanned 17,800-pound Shenzhou capsule (launched Monday from the Jiuquan space base) heralds another significant step forward for China’s human-spaceflight program. The next stage will be two similar docking exercises in 2012, with at least one carrying astronauts.

Rendezvous and docking while circling the globe once every 90 minutes is a challenging feat, even though over the past 40 years the US, Russia, and more recently Europe and Japan have made it look routine.

The Shenzhou docking collar is similar to the Russian-designed APAS system, which was used in the joint U.S.-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the assembly of the Russian space station Mir and by space shuttles visiting the International Space Station.

Russia, the United States and other countries jointly operate the 400 ton International Space Station, to which China does not belong. But the United States will not test a new rocket to take people into space until 2017, and Russia has said manned missions are no longer a priority.

China launched its first manned space mission in 2003 when astronaut Yang Liwei orbited Earth 14 times. It launched its second moon orbiter last year after becoming only the third country to send its astronauts walking in space outside their orbiting craft in 2008.

Beijing also plans an unmanned moon landing and deployment of a moon rover in 2012. Scientists have raised the possibility of sending a man to the moon after 2020.

The Sunway BlueLight MPP supercomputer resides in the National Supercomputer Center in eastern China. Installed this past September, the system houses a total of 8,700 ShenWei SW1600 processors that feature 16 cores apiece. Combined with an advanced water-cooling system – the specific details of which are currently unknown – the supercomputer is expected to reach a total processing power of around one petaflop. But more importantly, it can allegedly do so using only a megawatt of power.

Indeed, after space shuttle Atlantis made its final touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center for the last time in July, the US has been left without a manned space vehicle for the first time in five decades. And with the budgetary support to the Chinese space program continuing to be steady and robust, it stands to reason that China would join the ranks of the advanced space-faring nations.

In 2003 China became the third country — after USA and Russia — to send an astronaut into space. In 2005, China repeated this feat by launching two astronauts into orbit onboard its Shenzhou spaceship. In 2007, China stunned the world by successfully destroying its aging weather satellite, located 537 miles above the earth by making use of a ground-based medium range ballistic missile. In 2008 it successfully performed a space walking feat. The successful completion of the human space flight and space walking exercise have given impetus to the Chinese plan to build and launch an orbital complex. An orbital complex, besides helping China undertake cutting edge research, could also serve as a strategic platform in space to bolster its space war efforts.

Confirming its growing prowess in space, China on September 29 successfully launched its unmanned Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace) space laboratory module as a stepping stone to its ambitious plan of eventually setting up a permanent orbiting complex in space in 2020.

Tiangong 1 is expected to be joined soon by three separate unmanned Chinese spacecraft — Shenzhou 8, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 — that will mark China’s first attempt at docking maneuvers in space.

Shenzhou 8 is expected to be launched on a 12-day mission in November, while Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 are scheduled to lift off during 2012. One or both of these latter missions may carry the first astronauts to Tiangong 1.

The space station, which is yet to be formally named, is the most ambitious project in China’s exploration of space, which also calls for landing on the moon, possibly with astronauts.

At about 60 tons when completed, the Chinese station will be considerably smaller than the 16-nation International Space Station (ISS), which is expected to continue operating through 2028.

Located on an unassuming corner of Zhenning Lu and Yuyuan Lu, Fu 1088 is housed in a 1930s colonial villa. Instead of a dining room, guests dine in private rooms furnished with antiques.

Not to Miss: The crab with egg white (a delicately creamy dish brought to the table in an actual eggshell); Fu’s drunken chicken (crowned in a strong rice wine granita and sprinkled with goji berries); the lacquered xun yu (served hot in a plump, meaty stack).

Fu 1088, 375 Zhenning Lu, near Yuyuan Lu 镇宁路375号, 近愚园路, +86 21 5239 7878, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5:30-11 p.m.

As we are heading towards the dazha crab (aka hairy crab) season, September and October are the best months to try Jesse’s classic crab roe potato soup.
Jesse (吉士酒家)

With its curmudgeonly waiters and tiny, crowded dining room, the original Jesse location on Tianping Lu is not just a meal, it’s an experience.

Crammed in with the Shanghainese regulars here, you’ll find tourists speaking Cantonese, Taiwanese or English at a mile per minute and snapping photos at the same speed.

Not To Miss: the creamy crab roe potato soup and Shaoxing-wine-marinated crab

For an appetizer (or dessert), try the xin tai ruan, a sweet dish of red jujubes stuffed with soft, glutinous rice cake.

Two of Jesse’s signature dishes, the eight treasure duck and green onion fish head, require 24 hours’ notice.

Jesse, 41 Tianping Lu, near Huaihai Zhong Lu 天平路41号, 近淮海中路, +86 21 6282 9260, http://www.xinjishi.com, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 5:30 p.m.-midnight

Hong Rui Xing’s first floor is loaded with iconic Shanghainese snacks.
The first floor of Hong Rui Xing (鸿瑞兴) is a raucous cafeteria serving snacks. We like the eight-treasure rice, the sesame-covered meat-filled pancakes , the saucy, pliant Suzhou tofu and the bowls of hand-pulled noodles.

The second and third floors (all private dining rooms) are quieter. Instead of a menu, diners go to the open kitchen cum showroom to order from an island-like display of samples, which are plastic replicas of dishes, some eerily well-made.

Good for lighter palates as Hong Rui Xing’s menu is Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Suzhou influenced, meaning less sweet, less oil.

We also like the extra touch of creativity in many dishes such as the signature xiaolongbao served in with a light teapot soup, mini glutinous dumpling with sesame inside every pellet-sized dumpling and yellow croaker casserole.

Hong Rui Xing, 1500 Zhongshan Nan Er Lu, inside Shanghai Stadium 中山南二路1500号东亚体育宾馆1-3楼, 上海体育场运动员之家内, +86 21 6427 5177, +86 21 6428 0079, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.

A typical suspension bridge is held up by cables strung between two towers like a hammock. This bridge features a single tower and a single mile-long cable that drapes up and over the tower and supports the deck like a sling.

The cable is made up of 137 strands of steel. This assembly will be performed early next year by American labor. But the massive cable, key sections of the iconic tower and deck were all made in China, which is emerging as an infrastructure powerhouse in more places than San Francisco. For example, Chinese companies have contracted with New York City for a bridge, the subway system and a commuter train platform.

The steel contract went to a state-owned Chinese company, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, which had several advantages: modern production facilities, ships to deliver the steel and, of course, low-cost labor.