The philosopher's park

Situated in Xiuwen county, the Wang Yangming Cultural Park covering an area of 38,860 square meters, has been listed as one of the highest ranked projects in the county's cultural construction plan during the next five years.

As a well-known, historic site in Guizhou province, Wang Yangming's house, built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), will be a core feature of the park, the first stage of which has cost more than 900 million yuan ($150 million).

Wang Yangming (1472-1529) was a well-known philosopher and educator, whose theories have had great influence in China, Japan and other Southeast-Asian countries.

Jiang Zhilun, Xiuwen's county chief, said that the park will help promote Wang's philosophy and ideas to travelers from home and abroad. It will also boost the local economy.

Although the park will take years to complete, the man in charge of the development has plenty of faith in the project: "We know that it will take a long time to get our investment back. But it's still worthwhile because the cultural influence will last forever, " said Zhang Qihe, a local investor.