Design sketch of the new commercial center in Xushuguan, a town in Suzhou New District, Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: snd-szgxqfb]
Xushuguan town in Suzhou New District, Jiangsu province recently started construction of a commercial center, local media reported.
Undertaken by State-owned Shanghai Lujiazui Properties Co, the whole project covers 660,000 square meters with a building area of 1.08 million square meters.
Its main body, the 1.5 billion yuan ($217 million) first-phase project, takes the lion's share of space with a 26,000-square meter building area.
The center includes six major parts, namely, a theme square, a parent-child education center, a sports center, a shopping center, an entertainment center and a home furnishing center.
Its appearance is designed to echo the Great Cannel and Baizhi Mountain, two renowned local tourist destinations.
The project is part of the Suzhou municipal government's work to renovate the 1,000-year Xushuguan town and also to reproduce the Grand Canal's beauty.
China's Grand Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest as well as one of the oldest canals or artificial rivers in the world and traverses Suzhou.
