Construction of Haitan ancient city, a tourism project financed with $1 billion in Pingtan, Fujian province, is about to start, Pingtan Times reported on April 13.

The 2013 Strait Tourism Culture Development High Profile Forum, held in Fuzhou on Saturday, April 13, explored the development pattern of Haitan ancient city to build it into a cultural tourism brand in Pingtan.

Introduced as one of Fujian's major culture projects in 2013 with an investment totaling 6.5 billion yuan ($1.05 billion), Haitan ancient city is situated at the northern part of the Tannan Bay tourist resort in Pingtan and occupies an area of 733 square meters. It is designed to become a tourist complex with traveler accommodation, shipping and recreation facilities.

The construction will kick off this year and will take five years. Upon completion, the ancient city will be able to handle at least 3 million visitors annually.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai