Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country's leading aerospace and defense company, plans to invest about three billion yuan ($492 million) into an art zone project in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province.

The Beijing-based company's aim is to offer the inland East China where lacks creative industries an artistic community similar to the well-known Beijing 798 Art Zone, said Sun Jiguang, a department manager of the firm.

The project will kick off in late 2013 and is expected to be completed in 2016, Sun added.

The highlight of the zone is a flight simulation training base, which allows local residents to pilot a plane and to be trained to obtain simulated flying licenses.

(cnanhui.org)