China is seeking overseas cooperation to build a multimillion US dollar cultural park at the site of the earliest and largest ruins of the ancient Shu Kingdom in southwestern Sichuan Province.

The expansion of the existing museum site will cost an estimated investment of US$42.1 million and produce annual profits of US$300 million, said Li Chengyun, a leading official of Deyang City, at the Fifth Western China Expo held in Chengdu, Sichuan's capital.

The cultural park is located at the ruins of Sanxingdui, which is near present-day Guanghan City on the Chengdu Plain. Construction of expansion plans will take eight years. It involves 11 projects including a cultural research center, museums, a film studio, an art education center and hotels.

Construction of the project has been approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and relevant government departments and won approval from experts.

Sanxingdui, listed among China's top 10 archeological findings of the 20th century, has long been suspected to be the remains of the ancient Shu Kingdom that disappeared between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago.

Some of the most striking pieces were found accidentally in 1986 at Sanxingdui, a small village in Guanghan, when workers unearthed two pits.

Archeologists have excavated city walls, sacrificial pits, ruins of residences, tombs, jade and stone pits as well as bronze ware such as masks and figurines at the site.

Experts estimated more than 2.2 million people will visit the park every year. The partly completed project was estimated to earn yearly profits of US$150 million by 2005.

The project was scheduled for completion by 2010, when tourist arrivals were anticipated to hit 3.6 million a year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2004)