Construction on a museum featuring the history of Zhuang nationality, China's largest ethnic group, recently commenced in this capital city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, sources with the museum said here Wednesday.

The new museum covers an area of 8.6 hectares including a floor space of 30,000 square meters, which is believed to be the largest cultural facility for the Zhuang ethnic group since new China was founded in 1949, said Qin Pu, the museum's curator.

The museum is divided into five parts including exhibition halls, an open-air exhibition center and a cultural relics research center. The project is to cost 250 million yuan (US$31.25 million) to build and is expected to open to visitors in 2008.

"Visitors to the museum will not only get to know the life style, customs and history of the Zhuang nationality, but also enjoy demonstrations of unique cultural customs of Southeast Asia countries," said the curator.

"We have a responsibility to protect our ethic culture and tradition by building this museum" Qin said.

The Zhuang nationality, with a population of 15.4 million, is China's largest ethnic group. Some 11 million people of Zhuang nationality live in Guangxi and the rest live in Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Hunan provinces.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2006)