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Chinese architect Chen Zhuyun had once claimed he wasn't sad at all, despite knowing that his neighborhood, the old town square, and some of his favorite trees had been destroyed to make way for the Three Gorges dam project. Chen shrugged, apparently unmoved by changes brought about by the largest dam project in the world. In Wushan, located along the banks of the Yangtze River, 400 miles from Beijing, with a population of 580,000, many resettled residents like Chen aren't looking back. Officials optimistically project that once the dam project is completed, an annual 20 million tourists will flock to the largest man-made lake in the world.

Chinese developer Beijing North Star has awarded Great Britain-based RMJM, the commission to design the Beijing Olympic Green Convention Center, one of the 2008 Olympic Games' key venues. RMJM beat out competitors that included OMA, Philip Cox Architects, and KMD with a design that straddles several different sites of the games and includes elevated piazzas and pedestrian bridges. The biggest challenge of the project, says Gordon Affleck, an associate director for RMJM based in Hong Kong, China, is that the convention center is supposed to include historic themes from the Qin Dynasty because it sits midway on the games' main boulevard. The convention center, just under 3 million square feet, will be located near many other key sites, including the main sports stadium, the swimming complex, and the Olympic Park.