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Citic Group said on Friday it will in three to five years build the National Stadium into an entertainment and shopping center, while seeking to hold more sports games and cultural performances.

The “Bird’s Nest” will continue to develop tourism as its major business, while gradually tapping its auxiliary commercial facilities and turning them into a station for entertainment and shopping, said the Citic Group.

It will also actively hold sports games and entertainment performances, said the company, adding that it seeks to further promote the brand of the National Stadium, the major venue for the Beijing Olympics.

An individual company was established by Citic Group, Beijing Urban Construction Group and Golden State Holding Group Corporation to focus on the operation of the “Bird’s Nest” business.

According to the company, maintenance of the 250,000-square-meter National Stadium will annually cost 60 million yuan (about 8.82 million U.S. dollars), making it particularly hard to make profit.

 Workers speed up the construction of the carnival theme park seated northeast to the National Stadium known as the “bird’s nest” in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 19, 2009. The park is planned to open during the Spring Festival holiday, which begins on Jan. 26 this year.

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Venue: Bird’s Nest;

Location: Olympic Green;

Total land surface (sq. m.): 65,000 – 80,000;

Seats:  80000 permanent and 11,000 temporary;

Olympic events: Opening & Closing Ceremonies, Athletics, Football final;
Paralympic events: Opening and Closing ceremonies, Athletics;

“Bird’s Nest”, also named the National Stadium, which was the main venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It was designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize Gainer Jacques Herzog, de Meuron and Chinese Architect Li Xinggang, shaped as a “bird’s nest”, and looks like a cradle.

The National Stadium began on December 24, 2003 and was completed in March, 2008. The total construction cost was more than 2.2 billion.

The shape structure of “Bird’s Nest” is a colossal saddle-shaped elliptic steel structure with 24 truss pillars in total. It is 333 meters long from north to south, 294 meters wide from east to west, the highest point is 68.5 meters and the lowest point is 42.8 meters. It is the largest world’s steel structure. The outside was covered by a sort of membrane, it got the demand of rain-proof, and sunshine can go through transparent roof to satisfy the demand of lawn growing. This special membrane can also help lighting within the stadium and effectively diminish glare and shadowing, allowing a more favorable competition environment.