Controversial Summer Palace replica to open to public

Part of a full-size replica of the Old Summer Palace is about to open to tourists in east China's Zhejiang Province, some 1,000 kilometers from the real Beijing landmark.

Covering more than 400 hectares in Hengdian Township, the replica should be completed in 2016, Xu Wenrong, who is in charge of its construction, told Xinhua.

The largest of its four parts will open to the public from May 10, said Xu, who is the retired chairman of the conglomerate Hengdian Group, the project's major investor.

The four parts will replicate 95 percent of the architecture in the Old Summer Palace.

The replica will cost about 30 billion yuan (about 4.85 billion U.S. dollars), 10 billion yuan over the initial budget. While domestic and foreign investors have provided over 1 billion yuan, the Hengdian Group will meet the remaining expenditure.

The Old Summer Palace, a complex of pavilions and gardens built for Qing Dynasty emperors, is regarded as a symbol of China's historical humiliation at the hands foreign powers. It was ransacked by British and French troops in 1860, and again by an allied force including troops from the United States, Russia and Britain in 1900.

It is now frequently referenced in patriotic education.

Hengdian Township is being developed into a giant film set and tourist attraction by the Hengdian Group. The group has already found great economic success building replicas of the Forbidden City and the Tian'anmen Gate Tower.

The Old Summer Palace project, however, faced fierce criticism when it was announced in 2008, with many accusing it of bastardizing a site associated with patriotism.

Old Summer Palace authorities said "a full-size replica is neither possible nor tolerable".