Popularly known as the "the flashy rich people's circle", an upright
circular building with a 47-metre-wide hole in the middle is proving controversial.
The yellow structure, in the shape of giant Polo mint, has recently been completed and has been praised and criticised alike in China.
One local resident called it "unique" but some people on the internet said it was a crass symbol of wealth and nicknamed it "Tuhao Circle" or "Copper Coin Building".
The 33-storey-high Guangzhou Circle Building is designed to resemble an ancient Chinese jade disc.
It is becoming a landmark of Guangzhou city, despite being in the middle of a suburb 40 minutes away from the central business district.
Architect Joseph di Pasquale drew inspiration from seeing a jade disc at a museum in Guangzhou.
He said the hole in the building was key to the structure because the empty centre would evoke an emotional response from its viewers.
It also forms a figure-eight with its reflection on the Pearl River, suggesting the Chinese lucky number eight.
"I think he (the architect) is very brave. He made something that other people did not have the courage to make. It's a circular building, which is really unique in Guangzhou," said architecture student, Ash Sze.
One unidentified student said: "It's quite unusual. I'm quite intrigued to see a building with a circular hole in the middle. Personally, I think it's for the flashy rich people."
The building will house China's largest plastics trading floor, the Guangdong Plastics Exchange, where 300bn yuan (£30bn) worth of plastic raw materials and goods are traded annually.
Encased in 8,920 copper plates and built at a cost of around 70m yuan (£7m), the building on an island in Yangzhong county in the province of Jiangsu, hovers 15 storeys above ground.
