While the rest of the world is catching the construction slowdown sniffles, Shanghai seems to have contracted a case of Dubai's mega-building mania.

Three months after opening the world's second tallest skyscraper, the Chinese city will start construction on Saturday of an even taller building - the 632m Shanghai Centre.

The 121-storey steel and glass skyscraper was designed by Gensler and has been nicknamed the Dragon because it will supposedly look like a dragon's tail.

In China, dragons are believed to be able to control the weather, and this skyscraper could possibly do just that.

Designers say its spiral shape will minimise wind resistance and energy consumption and that 54 wind turbines will sit at the top of the building.

Like all developers of super-tall buildings, Gu Jianping, managing director of the Shanghai Tower Construction and Development Group says that by the time the building is open in 2014 the economy will be booming.

"Launching construction at this time will help boost Shanghai's confidence in fighting the financial crisis," he said.

He obviously hasn't heard of the never-fail "skyscraper index".