Foundations were laid Sunday to build a science center at a total cost of 1.9 billion yuan (about US$230 million) in south China's Guangdong Province, the largest center of its kind ever set up in the country.

The multi-functional center, to be built in prestigious Guangzhou University, will run training and experiments.

The center is expected to open in November 2007 to visitors, with numbers expected to reach 2.5 million a year, said Guangdong Provincial Governor Huang Huahua at the ceremony.

The science center will comprise an area for academic exchanges and another for knowledge dissemination with exhibition halls, either permanent or temporary, science and technology cinemas, open laboratories, and exhibits research centers.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2004)