The Yellow River estuary wetland museum in Dongying City in Shandong -- the largest of its kind in China -- will open to visitors in April, a local official said yesterday.

The museum, with a show space of more than 7,800 square meters, is expected to draw attention to China's largest wetlands, which cover 153,000 hectares -- equal to the area of half the city of Jinan, capital of Shandong Province.

Liu Jing, an official from the Yellow River Delta Protective Office, said the museum combines functions of collecting and exhibiting specimens, as well as scientific research.

The elegant fluent building captures the vigor of the river flowing into the Bohai Sea, as well as the characteristics of the newly shaped wetlands, Liu said.

The museum will collect and exhibit the precious natural resources of the area, and will be open free to domestic and overseas scholars and research institutes.

The Yellow River originates from northwestern China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, crossing nine provinces in more than 5,500 kilometers, and flows into the Bohai Sea in Dongying. As the sandiest river in the world, it forms more than 3,667 hectares of new land each year.

It features the most complete, vast and youngest ecosystem of China, becoming one of the top 13 wetlands protected by the United Nations Environment Committee.

Wetlands play a crucial role in storing water, adjusting climate, alleviating pollution and preventing and controlling soil erosion and flooding.

(China Daily February 4, 2004)