Beijing's largest park to open in May

Officials in Beijing have confirmed the city's largest and newest park should open for the first time in the spring.

Located in the Chinese capital city's Fengtai district, the new park will be twice the size of the ancient Summer Palace and should be open in time for the ninth China International Garden Expo in May.

The park will feature the China Garden Museum, an area called 'Splendid Valley', five exhibition zones and a "grand and beautiful" lake containing more than 1.8 million cubic metres of water.

Sun Yushan, deputy director of the expo's planning office, said: "The urban greenbelt along the Yongding River, the city's mother river, will be developed into an eco-friendly garden park, and the expo will greatly accelerate the development of west Beijing."

Hua Weijun, deputy director in charge of the expo's construction, claimed the wetlands surrounding the lake will purify around 80,000 cubic metre of recycled water each day, providing good quality water for sports such as wind surfing and swimming.