'Sponge city'

"The sponge technology is at the core of the park, and the starry sky is the theme," says Rui.

"The tourist center was built in the shape of a plane, the 340-meter-long 'infinite bridge' is in the shape of an endless loop. We put a wooden hut on a hill and will organize stargazing tours soon. The open-air auditorium can also hold concerts at night in future."

Rui says the park is currently looking for operators of watersports entertainment, retail stores and restaurants.

Yang Yu, a landscape designer at the China Architecture Design and Research Group, says the overall design of the landscape and buildings was overseen by Li Xinggang, who is best known for being the Chinese chief architect of the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, the main venue of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

"We have also built a stainless mirror maze on one of the hills and placed a sculpture of a jade rabbit and an astronomer in it to amuse children. We call it 'Interstellar Maze'," she says, adding that visitors will also get to appreciate plants such as North American crabapple and Japanese evening cherry.

As the land in the Lingang area, which was under water a few decades ago, is made up of saline-alkali soil, a 30-centimeter layer of thick gravel has been placed in the soil to filter salt. Engineers have also chosen plants that can grow in saline soil.

"We hope after several years the 'sponge park' can also treat the soil so that it will become more fertile in future," she adds.