No Random Walking!

Visited the brand-new Shenzhen library yesterday. Designed by a Japanese architect and surrounded by the also brand-new City Hall, Book City and Grand Theater (under construction), the library is the fanciest one I've visited. There aren't many books in there though, nor were there many visitors in there - the location is far away from any residential areas. There is a small section for books in foreign-languages. Anyone, including foreigners, can apply for a "reader's card" for free.

Pictures are from CgFinal.

From worldarchitecturenews.com: Terry Farrell and Partners to design tallest building in Shenzhen

Won in an international competition featuring some of the world’s best known architects, London based Terry Farrell and Partners have been commissioned to design the 439m tall Kingkey Finance Tower. Scheduled to begin construction late 2007, it will be Shenzhen's tallest tower as well as one of the world’s tallest mixed use buildings when completed in 2010. The 97 storey tower comprising over 210,000m2 of accommodation, is part of their master plan design for a 2-phase, 355,000m2 mixed use development. There are two floors of basement retail connecting directly to a new metro station; 5,500 m2 of banking trading halls slated for two prestige banks; 167,000m2 of Grade A office space over 68 floors; and, 30,000 m2 over 22 floors of “6 Star” business hotel complete with state-of-the-art conference and business facilities. A variety of fine dining options are contained within the crowning sky garden feature on the top 4 floors. Rational and efficient planning principles combined with the gently curved profile result in a desirable variety in the plan form at each floor. Situated on Hong Kong's doorstep with a population of over 6 million Shenzhen is perhaps the fastest growing city in the world and China's biggest port. Located in the city's prime district of Luohu, the tower’s position and orientation will give panoramic views over all of Shenzhen as well as views to Hong Kong. The tower's fluid, elegant shape and reflective skin is an allusion to a fountain that connotes the wealth and prosperity springing forth from the economic success zone that is Shenzhen.

 ... on a clear day.

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Tried to use wireless Internet yesterday in a cafe on my own notebook. Not bad. Not bad at all!
All I needed was to purchase a wireless USB adapter, which was made by Netgear and cost $160 RMB (after bargaining), or about $20 USD. The same item is sold in US for prices ranging from $37 to $47 according to information at Yahoo! Shopping.
Other brands sold are D-Link and TP-Link. The latter is a slightly cheaper local brand.
I should also go and get a router to set up a wireless network at home. The price ranges from $55 and up to $150 for a D-Link router in US, but I could get one here for about $30.
[Update 10/26:] The wireless broadband in the cafe is configured with a TP-Link router, which provides transmission speeds at 11/2 mdps. Not bad!