Largest drum-shaped building in China sets Guinness record

BEIJING: An 18-metre-high structure in the shape of a drum in east China's Anhui Province was today named the world's largest drum-shaped building by the Guinness World Records.

The two-storey building, with an investment of 130 million yuan ($21 million) from China's real estate giant Wanda Group, is located in Hefei, capital city of Anhui.

Blythe Fitzwilliam, commercial director with the Guinness World Records Limited Greater China region, awarded the certificate to Hefei Wanda Culture and Tourism Exhibition Centre, the operator of the building, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Named "China Drum," the building has a diametre of 58.5 metres at its widest point and a floor space of 4,650 square metres.

"The 'China Drum' displays the traditional Chinese drum culture and Anhui local culture," said Cheng Dong, a Guinness adjudicator, adding that the Guinness World Records is welcoming such applications with Chinese elements.

The Guinness World Records is the universally recognised authority on record-breaking achievement, says its website.

Known from its inception in 1955 through 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous US editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, it is a reference book published annually, listing world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world.