Shanghai Grand Theatre
China has several separate "geju" companies under the Ministry of Culture, parallel with the traditional Chinese opera companies. The most prestigious are the Beijing-based central "geju-yuan" China National Opera House troupe (CNOH), and the Shanghai-based Shanghai Opera House company. In each case the term "Opera House," "geju-yuan", refers to the institute or company, not to a fixed building or theatre. The street addresses of both companies are merely administrative offices and rehearsal rooms. Other notable geju companies around China include the Liaoning geju yuan, based in Shenyang and others. The status of "geju" has been boosted by availability of new world-class venues such as the China's National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing ("The Big Egg" on Tiananmen Square East) and the new Shanghai Grand Theatre. Since its opening in 2009 CHNCPA has staged operas such as "Xi Shi" and "A Village Teacher" in 2009, "The Chinese Orphan" in 2011, and the folk-opera "The Ballad of Canal" in 2012. The Shanghai Grand Theatre has similarly staged Chinese-language "geju" of the Shanghai Opera House company along with Italian, French and German-language operas.