Everything can be fake in China, even an orchestra. That is what the audience in the Shanghai Grand Theater found out on Sunday night. The Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra was supposed to give a concert with the Liaoning Ballet. The show started at 7:15 but after two performances the curtain came down. The audience thought it was an intermission and waited for the break to end. But the waiting never stopped: the orchestra had left the theatre already!
The theater blamed the Philharmonic Orchestra, but they said that they had nothing to do with the concert. Apparently a local company used the name for another orchestra, thereby cheating the audience and the theater. After waiting for two hours some people in the crowd got violent, and finally a theater manager apologized to the audience and promised them a refund.
Source: Shanghai Daily
I am a Dutch entrepreneur in Shanghai who has lived and worked over 12 years in China. Co-founder of among others Tudou.com and unitedstyles.com, advisor to Spil Games for which I set up and led the Asian operation (2006-2011), and angel investor in Chinese Internet and tech start-ups. Married to Grace, with whom I have a son (Scott) and a daughter (Elaine). These are my personal views and do not necessarily represent the companies I am involved with. You can reach me at marcvanderchijs (at) gmail (dot) com