Four years ago when bidding for the design of Beijing's National Grand Theater opened, applications from 36 design companies from around the world were received. Now, as bidding opens for the right to stage its debut show, completion is equally intense.

"To date, we have received 21 proposals for the theater's first show, some are from foreign countries, including the Royal Opera from England, but we haven't made the final decision yet," said Zhou Zhiqiang, head of the administrative office of the theater's art committee.

Occupying a total area of about 200,000 square meters, and due for completion by the end of the year, the National Grand Theater cost 2.688 billion yuan (about US$325 million) to build, making it the country's largest cultural project in recent years.

China's Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng has said that if all goes well according to schedule, the theater's first show should debut next September. The cultural ministry plans to stage 12 to 15 classical Chinese plays and seven to eight foreign performances as part of the initial program.

Wu Jiang, head of the China Beijing Opera Theater, envisaged a love story for the first show, which will coincide with seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar, or Chinese version of Valentine's Day. The day derives from a famous fairy tale about Niu Lang and Zhi Nu, a pair of lovers who were separated by Queen Mother of the West and could only meet once a year on this day.

"Why not arrange a splendid play depicting the eternal love between Niu Lang and Zhi Nu to attract lovers all over the world to spend China's Valentine's Day in the theater?"

Meanwhile, "Farewell my Concubine", the winner of the recently concluded "Lotus Award", China's supreme drama award, became another candidate program for the debut show.

"Having conceived the idea of building the theater about 40 years ago, we think that the National Grand Theater should be a high-end stage of elite cultures both at home and abroad and a platform to enhance international communication," said Wu Zuqiang, director on the theater's art committee.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2004)