China will build Asia's longest mountain tramway -- the Julingzu Tramway, at the Huashan Mountain in Shaanxi Province, according to the Huashan Travel Development Corporation.

Sources say the tram will be 3,800 meters long and ascend a height of 1,600 meters, and will be 40 meters longer than the Huangshan Tramway in Anhui Province, Asia's longest at present.

With an investment of 150 million yuan (about 17 million US dollars), the project is being undertaken by the Shaanxi Tourism Co. with designing done by the Beijing Nonferrous Metallurgy Designing and Research institute, a veteran in this field.

Officials say that purchase of needed equipment will be completed by the end of this year and the tram will begin test run in 2001.

Among China's Five Great Mountains for sightseeing, the highest is the Huashan Mountain, famous for its precipitous peaks and magnificent scenery which have attracted more than 6.2 million visitors over the past 20 years, but many were unable to climb all the way to the peak.

The new tramway will solve this problem, and allow visitors to ride to the main peaks.