It's all in the name

Shanghai Concert Hall's recent announcement that it would add the German brand "Sennheiser" to its name has sparked dispute in the city's musical circle.

Chen Gang, an established composer from Shanghai, said on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like micro-blogging service, that "the only concert hall named after the city, with a history of more than 80 years, has quietly sold its ancestral name".

The concert hall management had foreseen the dispute. "A performance venue at the level of Shanghai Concert Hall will receive lots of criticism if it teams up with just any company for title sponsorship," says Zhang Zhe, director of the Shanghai Grand Theater Art Center, the parent institution of Sennheiser Shanghai Concert Hall, when asked to comment about the controversy.