A national museum on the South China Sea is expected to open in the island province of Hainan next year.
The construction of the museum, located in Tanmen Township of Qionghai City, is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, and the museum will be open to the public during the 2017 Boao Forum for Asia in the spring, according to a spokesperson with the provincial government.
The museum will include exhibitions on history, culture and ecosystem of the sea, as well as antiques found in seven coastal provinces and under the Sea.
The museum has a display area of 28,500 square meters and will cost about 1 billion yuan (about 150 million U.S. dollars).
The structure epitomizes China's sovereignty over the Sea and raises awareness of marine territory, said Ding Hui, director of Hainan's department of culture in an earlier interview.
