The China International Convention Centre (CNCC) at the Olympic Green will bring a new element to the meetings, incentives, conferences and events (Mice) scene in Beijing. There will also be a touch of magic for its first event in July.
Although the venue is not due to officially open until November, following delays to reconstruction of the facility that was formerly the Olympic Broadcast Centre, the show must go on for the pre-booked International Federation of Magic Societies World Championships of Magic 2009.
Tony Xu Feng, CNCC's business development manager, said the venue would be ideal for the event, which would be attended by 2,000 magicians from around the world.
'We officially open later in the year but we were committed to this major event,' Mr Xu said. 'The [organiser] had planned to do it in the Beijing Grand Theatre, but that would have to have been redesigned. The show needs four metres of space under the stage.'
The CNCC cost 5 billion yuan (HK$5.68 billion) to build and is in the vicinity of the Bird's Nest National Stadium, the venue for the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies. Also in the area are the National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Water Cube. Behind it is the National Indoor Stadium, which hosted gymnastics events during last year's Games.
The CNCC complex consists of the main convention centre, two hotels, office buildings and a commercial area. Access to the venue is convenient with an underground railway entrance connection in the basement. The main convention building covers 270,000 square metres, the biggest in China. There is a 2,000-seat theatre, grand banquet hall accommodating 3,500 people and an exhibition hall covering 24,000 square metres. There are 80 breakout function rooms for exhibitions, conferences, lectures, banquets or performances. The latest synchronised interpretation and live voting systems are among the array of international-standard facilities.