The Egg

Beijing July 6,
Another day not full of exciting events or places, partly because my host was working today and will be for the next several days. (Other people have to work even though I am on holiday) Also a quieter day because of the heat and the air quality.

I knew before I came there would be days, perhaps the whole trip, when the air would be thick here. Today was one of those days. The TV said it got to 31 today but I was outside at noon, it certainly felt much hotter. The Weather Channel Internet site says it is currently 29 but with the humidex feels like 38. That I believe. It also says it is currently hazy. That's a polite way to say the air almost has body. However there is supposed to be up to 5mm of rain overnight. That should wash some of the junk out of the air and make tomorrow more comfortable.

I spent a few hours this morning marking and then went for a walk. I started out going west since I thought I had not been that way before. The next main street west of the hotel has many musical instrument stores and stores for calligraphy supplies. One day I will be in the market for the proper instruments to write characters. But I am not going to buy things that will sit in the closet for years gathering dust. And since I do not play an instrument and don't want to carry one home on the plane this part of the street was not particularly interesting. So I turned and went north, crossed Qian Men Jie, one of the widest streets I have encountered (six lanes of cars each way plus two lanes for buses, taxis and other vehicles each way), and kept going north.

As I was walking I noticed a large round silver building. As I got closer I saw it looked like a silver ball someone pushed down on to make the main diameter wider. It was surrounded by lots of green space. When I got to the green space I discovered another thing in Beijing that is free. The first thing that is free is the public toilets (very civilized), the second is the part around the National Center for the Performing Arts, also known as the Opera House even though many other kinds of performance happen here. I am beginning to think perhaps all public projects in Beijing have to be huge. The park is quite large, although, as always, stick to the paths, stay off the grass.

According to Wikipedia the Center itself holds 5,452 people in three performance areas and is nearly 12,000 square meters in area. It is 212 meters east to west, 144 meters north to south and 44 meters high. The building itself is surrounded by water. The entrace is down a wide long set of stairs. From the lobby I could see that at least parts of the interior space are open directly to the water. So it must feel like you are under water in those areas.

The construction took about six years and cost over Y3.2 billion roughly $530 million at current exhange rates. Not only were the construction costs supported by the National and Beijing government the enormous operational costs are also constantly subsidized by both governments, a matter of some discussion at many levels in Chinese society. Looking at the building, either from inside or outside it is clear the building is a major achievement for the city of Beijing. I am not sure if I like the look of the building but it is a lot more attractive than many "modern" buildings I have seen and the inside looks fabulous. I think it is extremely important there is continual government financial support for the arts. I think the people of Beijing should be proud of their government for taking on such a project.