The construction period of The Great Wall of China was about 2,000 years from the Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC) to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 km (5,500.3 mi). This is made up of 6,259.6 km (3,889.5 mi) sections of actual wall, 359.7 km (223.5 mi) of trenches and 2,232.5 km (1,387.2 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. Since transportation of materials was a problem, the local resources were used for construction such as stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges and rammed earth was used in the plains. Today, a portion of the Great Wall of China about 50 miles (80 km) from Beijing receives thousands of tourists each day.

The construction of the grand palace started in the fourth year of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty (1406), and ended in 1420. The Forbidden City covers an area of about 72 hectares with a total floor space of approximately 150, 000 square meters. It consists of 90 palaces and courtyards, 980 buildings and 8,704 rooms. It is a rectangle 961 meters (3,153 ft) from north to south and 753 meters (2,470 ft) from east to west. Material used include whole logs of precious Phoebe zhennan wood found in the jungles of south-western China, and large blocks of marble from quarries near Beijing. The floors of major halls were paved with "golden bricks".

The Beijing Water Cube, also known as Beijing National Aquatics Center was started in 2004 and completed in 2007. It is the largest ETFE (a kind of plastic, was designed to have high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range) clad structure in the world with over 100,000 m² of ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm in total thickness. The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs. Originally built for the Olympic Games, a part of the complex was later renovated into a water park. The structure had a capacity of 17,000 during the games that is being reduced to 6,000. It also has a total land surface of 65,000 square meters and will cover a total of 32,000 square metres (7.9 acres).

The Shanghai World Financial Center is a super tall skyscraper in Shanghai, China. It was built from 1997-2008. It is the second tallest building in the world and has the tallest observation deck in the world surpassing even the Burj Khalifa. It is built over an area of 381,600 m2 (4,107,500 sq ft) and has 101 floors. The most distinctive feature in the design of the building is an aperture at the peak. The skyscraper's roof height is set at 492 m, and has temporarily claimed the highest roof in the world. The modern skyscraper has received many awards for its design. CTBUH's Carol Willis, head of New York's Skyscraper Museum, states: "The simplicity of its form as well as its size dramatizes the idea of the skyscraper."

The Yangshan Deep Water port, built along the south of Shanghai is the largest cargo port in the world. . More than 30 kilometres out to sea off the coast of Shanghai, China’s Yangshan Port will be the biggest deep water port ever built. The first phase of the port commenced in 2004. When completed in 2020, its wharves will be an awesome 20 kilometres long, with berths for 50 ships, capable of handling 25 million shipping containers a year. A huge feat considering when the project began, only 40 percent of the port’s island existed. The Donghai Bridge which has a total length of 32.5 kilometres (20.2 miles), connects mainland Shanghai and the offshore Yangshan deep-water port.