Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@fatheristheone
Topics: World News, China
Niamh Spence
If you ever have some days where you never leave the house or your apartment, then you might have some idea how residents in a 'dystopian' apartment block feel.
The Regent International, a colossal building in China's Qianjiang Century City and located in Hangzhou’s central business district, is home to over 20,000 residents and has room for a further 10,000 in its gigantic building that houses everything residents could ever need - meaning they never need to leave.
Supermarket? Yep. A place to get your hair cut? Of course. A swimming pool? You got it
Drone footage on TikTok has shown the epic size of the building and the sheer number of homes in it, and it's still only at two thirds of its capacity. Watch the video here:
Advert
But who are the people who live in The Regent International?
Well according to one source, residents are referred to as 'Hang Piao', which refers to people who have 'drifted' to Hangzhou and moved there in search of better opportunities e.g. work.
The building has also been noted for its large population of graduates and those at the beginning of their careers who are just getting settled into working life.
It's not all grads and young professionals though, as the building also attracts some of China's internet famous faces too -known as Douyin celebrities.
Whilst it might seem like a huge expanse of a building to live in, due to its recent viral social media coverage on platforms like TikTok, it's now attracting more interest than ever before.
The cost of living in The Regent International can also vary, depending on where in the building you want to live - and how precious having a window is to you.
Small apartments without windows usually go for around 1,500 RMB per month ($210), according to some local news outlets.
Yet if you want to feel the natural sunlight on your face, then choosing to rent one of the larger properties with balconies will cost you 4,000 RMB per month ($570).
The building itself building stands at 675ft tall, offering 260,000 square metres of space, and it's now classed as one of the largest buildings in China.
A video uploaded to TikTok by the user @fatheristheone has shown the immensity of the building as filmed on a drone, and the sheer number of apartments and residents can be seen in the footage.
When the building was first designed by Alicia Loo, the chief designer of the world’s second seven-star hotel, the Singapore Sands Hotel, it was intended to be a six-star hotel.
However, it now thrives as a building boasting thousands of apartments and hosting even more residents with 20,000 currently living in the building and space for a further 10,000.