Completed in April 1999, with 88 floors, The Jin Mao Plaza is China's tallest, the world's third tallest, and the last Jumbo of the 20th century. The whole building is designed by US architectural firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and was built by the Shanghai Jian Gong Group, the first Chinese national construction group to tackle such a large and significant project.

The building is a superb design, combining elements of traditional Chinese architecture and a gothic influence to produce this amazingly modern building. Architects designed the building around the theme of the Chinese pagoda and the number eight. The lowest segment of the building is sixteen stories high and each succeeding segment is 1/8th smaller than its predecessor.

Two elevators with a speed of 9.1 m/sec. are working to transport visitors in seconds from the first basement to the sightseeing floor. Here, looking around and to the far distance, one can have a whole view of new Shanghai.