The Beijing Opera House

Another beautiful building for us to marvel at in Beijing. There are the CCTV towers designed by Rem Koolhass that will be broadcasting the 2008 Olympics, the National Swimming Center by Australian PTW where all the Olympic swim-related completions will be held, the Olympic "Bird's Nest" Stadium designed by Swiss Herzog and DeMeuron where many competitions will be held and lastly the Beijing Opera House designed by French architect Paul Andreu for, you guessed it, Opera.

This is a great architectural feat that the Chinese government is trying to achieve. All these buildings have suddenly sprung up over the last few years since the 2008 Olympics were announced to be held in Beijing. Although the Chinese designer Ai Weiwei was a consultant for the Bird's Nest stadium, most of the other mentioned buildings have had foreign design inspirations. Why is it that these buildings, which are supposed to be symbols of great achievement in China, are being outsourced to designers from other countries? I mean, I realize that most designs were accepted as part of design competitions but doing this seems to be imposing a modern look-and-feel that is inconsistent with the Chinese culture and style. And not surprisingly since it is completely foreign.

These structures are supposed to provide the tourists that will come pouring into Beijing this summer something to marvel at. This sort of ramp-up happens in every city that is to hold the Olympics but as Ai Weiwei comments in an interview about his contribution to the design of the Bird's Nest, he feels that all this preparation to glamorize China is meant to hide something. There have been many cities that have held the Olympics in the past that have not been nearly as ambitious with their preparation. Have even been somewhat modest. So whats going on here? What are we not supposed to see?

Either way, I just saw the pictures of the completed Beijing Opera House a few days ago and whatever you are doing China, you are doing it right. It looks amazing. What ever may be going on internally within the country at least these structures, once the Olympics are over, will be reclaimed by the local culture and absorbed. They will last for years after it is over and will be converted into something that has some meaning. Hopefully.