THREE of Shenzhen’s 10 new cultural landmark facilities, namely Shenzhen Oceanic Museum, Shenzhen Museum Academy and Shenzhen Museum of Natural History, will be built in the city’s eastern districts.

The Oceanic Museum will be built in Dapeng New Area, Shenzhen Music Academy will be built in the International University Town area in Longgang and Shenzhen Museum of Natural History will be built in the Yanziling area in Pingshan District, sources from the Shenzhen culture, sports and tourism administration said.

The Shenzhen Museum of Natural History will include a natural heritage museum that covers 40,200 square meters and an outdoor natural science theme park that covers 60,000 square meters. With a floor space of 120,000 square meters, the modern facility will be a leading museum in China for the collection and display of historical heritage and natural specimens and a base for natural science research and popularization.

Since the establishment of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Shenzhen has undergone two massive rounds of cultural facility construction, once in the 1980s and again in the new millennium. Eight were built in the 1980s, including Shenzhen Museum, Shenzhen Library and Shenzhen Grand Theater. Five have been built since 2000, including Shenzhen Concert Hall and the new Shenzhen Library.

However, most of the facilities were built in the city’s central areas and the original SEZ districts, namely Luohu, Futian, Nanshan and Yantian.

By the end of the 2018, there was only one city-level sports facility, Shenzhen Universiade Sport Center, and five district-level sports centers, in Longgang, Pingshan and Dapeng. At the annual session of Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress early this year, Yin Dan, a deputy to the city legislature, suggested that in planning the city’s 10 new culture and sports facilities, priority should be given to the eastern districts, especially Pingshan, which has rich land resources.

The culture administration unveiled a plan last December to build 10 new cultural landmarks. The other seven cultural landmarks are Shenzhen Opera House, Shenzhen Reform and Opening-up Exhibition Hall, Creative Design Hall, Shenzhen Hall of the National Museum of China, Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum, the new Shenzhen Art Museum and Shenzhen Innovation and Creative Design Academy.

(Han Ximin)