Western opera has assumed a firm place in Chinese culture, and any self-respecting city will seek to outdo other metropolises with an opera house of international standing. Since 2002, when Zaha Hadid won the competition for the present development, attention has been focused on Guangzhou, the former city of Canton. Here, clients and experts alike promised themselves a masterpiece of new parametric computer architecture. In February 2011, the opera house was officially opened. Forming part of a new cultural district, with museums and a literary archive, it is situated on the embankment promenade of the Pearl River.