Would you live in an apartment building with over 20,000 people? If that sounds crazy to you, it’s real. And it’s in China…

2 min read

2 months ago Robin

The Regent International apartment building in Hangzhou, in the middle part of southeast China, is popular for having a number of inhabitants comparable to a small town…around 20,000 people!

Located in Qianjiang Century City, Hangzhou’s central business district, the S-shaped Regent International was originally designed as a luxury hotel, but was subsequently converted into a colossal apartment building, with its rooms turned into thousands of high-end residential apartments.
It features a large green glass curtain wall facade that makes it stand out among the surrounding structures, and Its impressive design and size have even earned the building the “2012 Best Business Complex of Zheshang” award.
The impressive building is 206 m tall and has 36 to 39 floors, depending on what you’re side of it you’re on and, as any self-contained community, features a variety of amenities and services, including a gymnasium, swimming pool, spa, game room, food court, and even a tea room. With everything from supermarkets to barbershops, nail salons, and florists, you can find anything you need in the building, so technically you don’t even need to go outside.

Designed by Alicia Loo, the chief designer of the Singapore Sands Hotel, world’s second seven-star hotel, the Regent International building was inaugurated in 2013, and quickly became one of the most popular edifices in Hangzhou. The majority of its residents are young professionals who recently graduated college or are about to graduate, but you can also find regular people as well as small businesses.
Smaller apartments without windows usually rent for around 1,500 RMB ($220) per month, while larger units with balconies can rent for up to 4,000 RMB (550 USD) per month or more.
Either way, offering more than 260,000 square meters of space, the Regent International apartment building in Hangzhou is one of the largest of its kind in China.
Its number of inhabitants has been a matter of debate on Chinese social media, but judging by the number of rooms and the number of floors, it is estimated that between 11,000 and 22,000 people live in the building.
Most people are blown away by the number of inhabitants, and surely lot of us even grew up in towns with fewer people than what the colossal building can accommodate!