Workers are laboring almost around the clock, loading and unloading 500 trucks filled with building materials to create an artificial archipelago off Longkou Bay in Yantai in East China’s Shandong province.

The State Oceanic Administration approved the project in May 2010. Work that begin in January is expected to be finished within four years. The artificial archipelago, or chain of islands, will have a total land surface of more than 35 square kilometers, making it the largest in China.

The Longkou Bay project is only part of Shandong province’s land reclamation initiative. Artificial island projects in Haiyang and Zhaoyuan were also approved for construction. A total of 400 square kilometers of sea areas will be reclaimed for land use in Shandong by 2015.

By Zhao Ruixue (China Daily Shandong Bureau)