Harbin Grand Theatre, Heilongjiang, China

5Jedai79 5:00 PM May 17, 2017

Harbin Grand Theatre brought us to Harbin
Visited Harbin Grand Theatre (哈尔滨大剧院）on 11 May. We love architecture and this is definitely a gem. It was Harbin Theatre that brought us to Harbin. We love Architect Ma Yan Song's design for example, Harbin Grand Theatre and his Marilyn Monroe buildings in Canada. After Siberian Tiger Park in the late morning and circus show in the early afternoon, we walked to the main road with the thought of taking a bus to Harbin Grand Theatre. However, due to hunger, we crossed the main road to Lü Zhou (绿洲）Condominium in search for food. It was the eatery owner who suggested we should just take a slow walk to the theatre because she said there was no bus that would take us to the venue directly. After alighting at the bus stop, we still had to walk. As we strolled towards the Theatre, we came across a nice park on our left. Our hearts thumped as the theatre started to unfold itself before our eyes, we were totally awed by the spectacle. We took pictures of it from every perceivable angle. Harbin Grand Theatre was beautiful from each and every angle. Had wanted to see the interior and experience how good the acoustics was, however, they only had Chinese comedy on those few days we were in Harbin. Orchestral performances were only available the following week when we would have already left Harbin and in Changchun, Shenyang and Dalian. What a pity?! There is another park at the rear side of the theatre. By the way, the building next to the theatre (Cultural Centre) seemed to be uncompleted and unoccupied. Visit the theatre if you are also an architecture lover. Go for a play or an orchestral performance to see the interior and to "test" the acoustics. But we read that it will be tough to get a cab back to town when the performance ends at night. We left the theatre and walked out to the main road at about 5 plus pm and managed to get a cab within 5 mins. On our way to Tiger Park, cab driver had wanted us to pay him an extra ¥35 for his waiting time, on top of metered fare. He said it would be difficult to get a cab to return to town and that there would be many 黑车（hei che - illegal cab drivers using their own private cars）. Well, he was proven wrong.

5liping 5:00 PM Jun 1, 2019

An impressive architectural design
The Harbin Grand Theatre stands out with simple, eye catching curved lines. The curved facade and spiral stairs up and around the theatre are challenging for architects and builders.