The northwestern province of Shaanxi is building a museum in the Yangling Agricultural High-Tech Pilot Zone, 90 km from the provincial capital Xi'an, to display the long history of China's agricultural production.

The museum will be home to a huge collection of agricultural information and literature, history of agricultural development in different regions of the country, as well as modern science and technology applied in China's agricultural sector.

Experts say the museum will be an ideal place for academic exchanges between agricultural scientists from home and abroad.

The museum, which will cover 5,000 square meters and involve an investment of 7.5 million yuan (US$900,000), is designed by the Northwest China Science and Technology University for Agriculture and Forestry.

Shaanxi Province, with 352 hectares of cultivable land and a population of over 36 million, is a cradle of China's agricultural production.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2003)