The front line in the battle to transform Changsha, a city in central China, is a muddy lakeshore where construction workers brave searing heat to dig foundations and pour concrete.
On the city’s outskirts, Meixi Lake is today surrounded by green hills and red earth but by the end of October it will boast the beginning of a Zaha Hadid-designed arts centre and dozens of high-rise tower blocks. It is a focal point of what Changhsa’s government has termed the “hundred day battle”, a campaign that it launched last month with the long-term goal of building up the city and the more pressing objective of fuelling growth as the economy slows.
“We were working on a property development that was halted because the company ran out of funds. Then we heard about Meixi Lake and came over. There is lots of work to be done here,” said Mr Xu, a wiry 50-year-old from the nearby city of Miluo who was mixing cement with a shovel.