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China's National Grand Theater is positioned at the western of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, and side by the Grand Hall of People. It was designed by Mr Paul Andrew, the famous French architect and completed with some designers from Qinghua university. Covering a total area of 118,900 square meters, the Grand Theater has a total floor space of 149,500 square meters. It looks like a huge green park with an oval and silver grand theater encircled by green water. The shell, made of titanium metal and glass together with day and night lights add radiance and beauty to each other, and have fast-changing colors. The surroundings of the Grand Theater are semi-transparent, golden netted glass walls. People can see the sky inside the building through its dome. Some people describe the complete Grand Theater as "a crystal drop of water", other people call it a "big egg shell" or "boiled egg".
The Grand Theater is equipped with accessory facilities including halls for opera, music, drama, art exhibitions, as well as an art exchange center, and audio and video store. Opera, dancing and ballet will be mainly presented in the opera hall, which can accommodate an audience of 2,416. The Music Hall, which can accommodate 2,017, will mainly present large orchestral work and folk music. Drama and local opera including Peking opera will be staged in the drama hall.
At the northern side of the Grand Theater there is an underground parking lot, which can hold almost 1,000 motor vehicles and 1,400 more bicycles. It can be used as an accessory facility for the Grand Theater and as a public facility in the Tian'anmen Square area. The Grand Theater is a China's top art performance center and a first class art palace.
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