Hangzhou Orient Culture Park, a traditional Chinese culture theme park, will be finished in May.

The park will present an array of traditional culture including Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

The park is built around the restored Yangqi Temple which was first built in 1209 during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).

The temple had been a holy land for local Buddhist devotees since its opening.

Situated on the southern bank of the Qiantang River, the theme park covers more than 133 hectares.

It was designated a Buddhist Culture Exhibition Center of China by the Chinese Religious Society soon after its restoration last September.

Donated by the Palace Museum at Beijing's Forbidden City, 16 Buddha statues including several worshipped by emperors and queens of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) are currently on display in the "Underground Palace of the Golden Pagoda."

The Golden Pagoda was built following the Buddhist architecture style in Thailand.

"In order to make our park a Buddhist exhibition center, we plan to introduce Buddhist cultural heritage from other countries, especially countries in Southeast Asia," said Xu Guanxing, chief executive of the theme park.

The park is one of the key tourism culture projects of Hangzhou and 300 million yuan (US$36 million) has been invested in it.

The park has six main sections-the Century Square, Confucianist, Buddhist and Taoist sections, a resort section and a landscape part.

(China Daily 02/28/2001)