Shenyang city in northeast China's Liaoning province has announced its decision to build a "Canadian village" on its outskirts to promote the agricultural, tourism and hotel businesses, and its pre-stage preparations have begun.

The "Canadian village", or the "Canadian hacienda", will be located in a high-tech agricultural development zone, also known as Shenyang's "agricultural silicon valley", said an official from the municipal government Tuesday.

The village, with an area of more than 330 hectares, will emerge on the outskirts of Shenyang as a fine example of the state-of-the-art technology designed to promote local agricultural growth.

It will also have fields of clover and Canadian evergreen grass which will add to the city's green space.

Meanwhile, more than 3,000 Canadian villas of varied styles will be built in the village, using wood and other environmentally-friendly construction materials imported from Canada to highlight the Canadian theme.

The 55-percent forest coverage, along with nearby elegant greenhills, limpid rivers and natural wetlands, will also makes it a superb holiday resort.

The village, the largest foreign-invested project in Shenyang, will cost a total of 500 million Canadian dollars (about US$ 330 million).

The Canadian firm making the investment will be expected to complete the site survey and the design and overall planning of the village within 10 months. And construction will be completed by 2008, provided everything goes smoothly and well.

( Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2002)