The country's remarkable modernisation drive was symbolised, nine years ago, by the completion of the Petronas twin towers, in Kuala Lumpur, then the world's tallest buildings.

ECONOMIST: Malaysia at 50

Of the top 10 tallest buildings in the world right now, the only U.S. property is the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) in Chicago standing at 1, 451 feet.

FORBES: China's Tallest Building Gets Even Bigger

When the new Freedom Tower is complete in lower Manhattan, it will be one of the top five tallest buildings in the world with a total peak height of 1, 776 feet.

FORBES: China's Tallest Building Gets Even Bigger

The twin skyscrapers were the tallest buildings in the world at the time, only overtaken by the Taipei 101 in 2004.

BBC: Profile: Skydiver Felix Baumgartner

Asia is now home to seven of the world's 10 tallest buildings, most of them no more than five years old.

WSJ: Runners Find Stairways to Heaven Amid Asia's Skyscraper Boom

But that may only be because windows have yet to be installed in the dozens of skyscrapers sprouting in the Arab Gulf, home to 22 of the world's 50 tallest buildings under construction, 16 of those in Dubai alone.

ECONOMIST: Shares take a tumble in the Gulf