China has started to build a new-technology base in the northern port city of Tianjin following approval for the project after a recent evaluation by experts.

The base, covering an area of 1,300 mu (about 87 hectares), will be built jointly by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Tianjin-based companies and universities.

The facility will serve as an incubator for new technologies with the goal of developing new industries.

In related developments, Changchun, the capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, announced that a high-tech garden for the development of edible fungus has been launched in the city.

The Jilin Agricultural University, whose products have been sold to Japan and Germany, will lend technical support to the garden.

By the year 2005, this garden hopes to turn out 100,000 tons of edible fungus annually worth 100 million yuan (about 12 million US dollars), becoming the largest fungus production center in north China. (Xinhua)