Aerial_view_482

Aerial view of Canton Tower, Haizhu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

The Canton Tower (Chinese: 广州塔), formally Guangzhou TV Astronomical and Sightseeing Tower (Chinese: 广州电视台天文及观光塔), is a 604-meter (1,982 ft)-tall multipurpose observation tower in the Haizhu District of Guangzhou (alternatively romanized as Canton). The tower was topped out in 2009 and it became operational on 29 September 2010 for the 2010 Asian Games. The tower briefly held the title of tallest tower in the world, replacing the CN Tower, before being surpassed by the Tokyo Skytree. It was the tallest structure in China prior to the topping out of the Shanghai Tower on 3 August 2013, and is now the second tallest tower and the fourth-tallest freestanding structure in the world.