On 28 May our friend Barry took us along to this special event in the China National Convention Center in the Olympic Green: Australia China Culture & Art Night.
Since its construction I went never back. I actually have a unknown story to tell about that building.

When I was involved in launching the major Olympic venues for 2008, we ran into a brick wall. The NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission) had refused to approve the project of the BDRC (Beijing Development & Reform Commission). Over a private lunch with the president of the BDRC we reviewed this hiccup. Initially we wanted to launch it as the “Beijing Exhibition Center” but the NDRC refused on the grounds the surface area was too small and there were already other large exhibition centers in the pipeline. So I suggested to simply change it to a “Convention Center”. That worked… and soon we launched that tender as such, approved this time by the NDRC.

The Center is great but personally I regret the logistics, as it is the case with all venues in the area. Reaching it and leaving it is so difficult with all the security and access restrictions, for cars and even pedestrians. So I really don’t like to go there…

The evening was nice, with some VIP guests such as the Australian Former Dty PM Mark Vaile (we took pictures with him…) and Yu Xiaosong, former Chairman of the Chinese Chamber (among other functions), I met him many years ago.
The performances were creative: a mix of rock & roll and Chinese Opera. Cool! Explains the electric guitars…