Many visitors will probably find the Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts (Guójiā Dà Jùyuàn, 国家大剧院) to be the city's prettiest modern structure, with its smooth graceful lines and curves. Be that as it may, "the Egg" seems to be the building that's gotten the most flack from Beijingers. They've even called it huai dan, the "Rotten Egg," for disrupting Beijing's feng shui.

The architects mindfully incorporated the circle-and-square/heaven-and-earth theme present in so many pinnacles of Chinese culture, like the Summer Palace, but, if many locals are to be believed, they flubbed it.

The Egg's square half thoroughly disrupts the concentric circles weaving out from the Forbidden City, and unfortunately, that's the motif around which all of Beijing was originally designed. People say it's an impostor and an alien monstrosity. And there is indeed a drastic contrast between this über-modern structure and that epitome of tradition sitting next door, the Forbidden City.

Still, despite all the local disparagement, many visitors (foreign and Chinese) are certain to fall in love with Paul Andrew's Egg. The sky is mirrored in its semi-transparent, golden-netted glass walls, allowing onlookers outside to enjoy the play of colors as the lights of dawn and dusk interact with the building's massive titanium and glass shell.

Proximity to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City assure a steady flow of visitors to this striking new structure. Regardless, when you get tired of taking in all the sites, you can always cross over to Beihai Park and take a relaxing stroll about the greens with Mr. Andrews' enigmatic Egg providing a striking modern counterpoint to the classical Chinese gardens neighboring the Forbidden City.

Ticket information is available at (86 10) 6655 0000 from 9am-8pm.

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