Beijing simmering over 'the Egg'

The box office, main lobby and an exhibition about the architecture are in this basement level. A long corridor leads to the center of the complex, a large atrium encased by the dome.

It is here that the interior is most impressive.

Slender escalators that look like they're suspended in the air crisscross the atrium, climbing to balconies that lead to the upper levels of the theaters. The vast ceiling under the dome is lined with slats of Brazilian redwood. The effect is something between a 21st century airport and the innards of a piano.

The site was designated in the 1950s for an arts center that was to be built with Soviet help, but the project was delayed by chilling relations between the countries, and it was shelved entirely during the Cultural Revolution.

"I've waited for 50 years for China to get its own performing arts center," said Yang Hongnian, who was conducting a Chinese choir last month at the concert hall.

Yang, whose shaggy silver hair brings to mind the late Leonard Bernstein, recalled traveling to Italy as a young man and envying the opera houses and concert halls he thought China would never have. "This was only our dream."

The lavishness of the new center shows the extent to which China's current leadership has embraced Western culture, or at least high culture -- as though its guiding motto was, "If you build it, they will come."

Indeed, during its first six weeks in operation, the center was play host to soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, tenor Jose Carreras, conductors Kurt Masur and Seiji Ozawa, and the Kirov Ballet. By providing a venue, China hopes its performers will rise to world-class standards in the Western performing arts.

Of course, Western culture doesn't come cheap. Ticket prices for international performers are about the same as anywhere in the West. In a country where many people are resentful of the growing gap between rich and poor, the arts center is one more source of umbrage.

"The tickets are too expensive. My family would never get a chance normally to see this place," said Zeng Huan, a 16-year-old student who was lucky enough to visit with her high school class.

During the Chinese New Year, hundreds of tourists from the Chinese countryside milled around the entrance but were unable to get past the box office in the outer lobby. A spokeswoman for the center said tours of the building would soon be available, at a lower price.

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barbara.demick@latimes.com