[Photo from visitbeijing.com.cn]

Egg-shaped National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is surrounded by water. [Photo by He Peng]

The egg-shaped National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is the right place to present wonderful performances.

[Photo from visitbeijing.com.cn]

[Photo from visitbeijing.com.cn]

Performances are not to be missed. Adjacent to the Great Hall of the People and the Tiananmen Square, the egg-shaped NCPA makes a showy display at the center of Beijing, despite mounting controversy before its construction. Though lambasted as strange, the NCPA is here to stay. Designed by French architect Paul Andreu, the gigantic three-hall theater is housed in a mammoth titanium and glass shell. Though the outside may look like a prop from the War of the Worlds, the interior wins over most visitors. The dramatic entrance takes guests through transparent, underwater corridors in the Egg’s reflection pool.