Shanghai Daily news/Ma Dan and Michelle Qiao

Preferential tickets for the Seventh China Shanghai International Arts Festival went on sale yesterday morning and nearly all the discount tickets were sold out by the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center also began selling tickets for the October 18-November 18 festival's most important performances, the two concerts of Berliner Philhar-moniker on November 10-11. The cheapest and most expensive tickets for the shows, which are not included in the preferential lot, have already been sold out.
Shanghai is one stop of the orchestra's first three-week Asian tour beginning on November 4, which will include 12 concerts in Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo.
Tickets for the Shanghai concerts are priced at between 300 yuan (US$37) and 4,000 yuan, a bit cheaper than tickets in Beijing, Seoul and Taipei. The cheapest tickets in Beijing are selling for 500 yuan.
"Even if we sold all the 2,000 tickets, the money could only cover half the total expense of more than 13 million yuan for the orchestra's Shanghai trip," said Lin Hongming, the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center's general manager.
The discounted tickets for some chosen shows were sold at the Shanghai Art Theater, the Shanghai Circus World, Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center and Hongqiao Arts Center.
A 67-year-old retired teacher Gu Mingde bought the first 18 tickets at the Shanghai Art Theater at 9am, which cost him 660 yuan in all. "It is the third year I have bought preferential tickets. I was the first to arrive here at 5:20am," Gu revealed.
Zhong Tiehua purchased eight tickets after two hours of waiting. "This year's performances are not as many as before and the price seems higher," Zhong said.
Zhu Yong'an, vice president of the Shanghai International Arts Advertising Co, insisted the prices are still the same, ranging from 10 yuan to 100 yuan.
The preferential ticket prices are up to 50 percent off on average while individuals are restricted to a maximum of two tickets per performance.