Beijing will bulldoze one of China's oldest opera houses

City planners in the Chinese capital, Beijing, have decided to bulldoze one of the oldest opera houses in the country, according to state media.

The Guanghe Theatre, in Beijing's historic Qianmen district, will be replaced with a more modern venue.

The theatre, constructed in the final years of the Ming Dynasty, continued to stage opera until the 1970s...

"It appears that yet another of the country's cultural heirlooms is doomed," the state-run news agency [Xinjua] said...

The city was once home to some 40 opera houses.