International Journal on Architectural Science, Volume 6, Number 4, p.144-167, 2005 144 A GENERAL OVERVIEW ON THE BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS IN CHINA D.K. Liu and M. Lin Architecture Engineering College, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China W.K. Chow Areas of Strength: Fire Safety Engineering, Research Centre for Fire Engineering Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China (Received 20 April 2005; Accepted 24 June 2005) ABSTRACT Economics in the Far East is growing rapidly. Many big and new construction projects are found in densely populated areas. With the increase in the number of fire incidents, there are safety concerns. Structural stability is important in building engineering, bridge works, highway and urban road engineering, railway constructions, tunnel and underground space constructions, hydraulic works, harbour works, ocean engineering, and drainage works in case of fire. To determine proper design for protecting the structures against fire, a review on different structural designs is necessary. In this paper, different types of building engineering in China are briefly described. Building materials used are reviewed. Examples of new buildings are listed. 1. INTRODUCTION The number of fires from accident, arson or terrorist attack, appears to be increasing [1] since 1996 after the big Garley Building fire [2] in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (formerly Hong Kong). There are so many big city groups in China with complicated building structures such as super tall buildings [3]. Fire safety has become a hot topic that both citizens and government officers are very concerned about. The fire safety provisions might be installed only for satisfying the minimum requirement. A typical scenario was considered, perhaps for reducing the project cost. This is not satisfactory, as the building property owner would control it for a much longer time. As a result, many projects would upgrade their fire safety, even those buildings in operation. The following functional requirements should be satisfied in designing building engineering. Safety and reliability of the building must be ensured during and after construction if the structural components are not to be damaged in a fire, and the whole structure not to be collapsed. Requirements of the users have to be provided. Deformation or vibration is limited to certain values to make people feel safe, say under wind loading, fire or earthquakes. Cost is another factor, aiming at providing optimum safety, reliability and suitability in the most economic way. Usually, the lowest construction cost is welcomed in project development. However, safety, reliability and suitability for use might require higher cost if protection is not just on providing minimum installation based on a typical scenario. A safe and reliable structure means the probability of the structure to reach its limit state is sufficiently low. ‘Limit state’ means that in exceeding certain specified limits, the whole building or part of the structure would fail to perform a certain function of the design. This specified limit is the limit state for that particular function. There are two kinds of limit states: y Bearing capacity limit state refers to the situation where the structure or the structural component has reached its maximum load bearing capacity (or maximum strength). Examples are stressing concrete columns or fracturing of beams. y Service-ability limit state, meaning that the structure or structural component has reached the situation that it cannot function properly. Examples are badly deformed or cracked beams, or cracks appear in a water pool.