When construction began on Guangzhou Opera House in 2005, the site was surrounded by farmland. As the building rose, so did the city around it. Guangzhou, in the sprawling industrial Pearl River Delta, had outgrown its traditional centre (based around the old city of Canton) and was expanding into Pearl River New City. It has since grown so fast and so far that, standing on top of any of the new Central Business District’s skyscrapers, the dense grey grid of the city spreads out on all sides as far as the eye can see until it is subsumed in the beige mist of pollution and cement dust from which it is still forming.
当广州歌剧院(Guangzhou Opera House)于2005年破土动工时，周围还全是农田。随着工程的不断推进，周围的区域也很快随之发展起来。地处规划凌乱的珠江三角洲(Pearl River Delta)工业地带的广州，如今已经向远离传统市中心（围绕广州老城区而建）的地段发展，一直拓展至珠江新城(Pearl River New City)。广州的发展如此迅猛，折射范围如此之广，所以站在新的中央商务区(Central Business District)的任何一幢高楼上眺望，看到的是人口稠密的灰格子布局的城市圈向四处拓展，一眼望不到尽头，直至浅褐色的污染空气和因大兴土木而扬起的水泥粉尘混杂的天际处。