In a rare show of public protest, some of China’s preeminent architects and scholars are voicing their opposition to a government-backed plan to build a modern 2,500-seat opera house near Mao’s mausoleum in downtown Beijing. Critics of the Grand National Theatre – or “big duck egg,” as its glass-and-titanium design is becoming known – cite aesthetic as well as economic rationales. “The structure…is to cover 25 acres that supported hundreds of courtyard houses until they were bulldozed during the past few months.” – Financial Times