Shangdong Province's Penglai City has invested 500 million yuan (US$60.45 million) to rebuild the historical Water City in an effort to preserve it. The reconstruction project is to break ground soon.

The first phase of the preparatory work has already started. All fishing boats in the Water City have been moved to the new harbor and the relocation of residents in the affected neighborhood is also in progress.

The reconstruction work includes transferring residents out of the area, rebuilding the ancient naval yards, the barracks and training facilities.

Penglai Water City, which is now designated as a key national cultural protection unit, was built in the ninth year of the Ming Dynasty's Hongwu period (1376 A.D.), and it is the best preserved ancient naval base in the nation today. The Penglai Pavilion and Qi Jiguang Gateways in the city are also key national cultural protection units.

It is expected that this reconstruction project would focus on the protection of cultural relics and historic sites and to raise the cultural content of the water city to qualify it as one of the Wonderland Penglai's emblematic scene.

(Chinanews.cn March 21, 2005)