The regional building, an adjunct to the National Hall, is girdled with a semi-outdoor glass corridor, which supplies the inner space with natural heating and ventilation. Its 27,000 square meter roof garden is modeled after a section in the former Yuanmingyuan Palace. It offers a respite for crowds jostling into the exhibition areas, and an effective weather-relief sanctuary as well.

Back to the Future

The exhibition areas of the National Hall are arranged on three floors. The centerpiece named Oriental Footprint is on the top floor at 49 meters above the ground. This section includes a 700-seat cinema, built of steel. An eight-minute film is looped on its 360 degree circular screen, illustrating China's urbanization progress. When leaving the theater through a 128-meter-long passage, visitors will be amazed again by an animation of the Northern Song (960-1127) painting Qingming Festival at the Riverside that dances on the walls of its corridors. Virtual people and animals wend through the streets of the Song capital, bustling neighborhoods as depicted in the scroll, while the light in the sky changes from dawn to dusk. Travelers of this time capsule are expected to enjoy the illusion as much as the original painting, a national treasure that is also on display on this floor.

The floor below is dedicated to another masterful bit of experiental learning in which visitors hop on excursion trains on a tour of Chinese architectural icons and the history of municipal construction.

The third exhibition area is focused on Chinese progress towards a low-carbon future, which can be summed up in the old Chinese adage,"Get by justifiable means, and use with restraint."