'City of Wine', Yantai

The project, according to ChinaDaily.com, will be situated in the city of Yantai, will cover an area of 413ha and will cost an estimated 6bn yuan (US$942.6m).

The centre will house a research institute and wine production centre, as well as vineyards, an ‘international wine trading centre’, and a ‘European-style village’.

There will also be ‘two high-end wine and brandy chateaux’, the website reported, making it one of the world’s largest wine and brandy production plants.

The centre is expected to be completed by 2016.

Changyu, according to its website, was ranked the 10th largest wine producer in the world in 2007, with sales of US$695m.

It is no stranger to audacious building projects: in 2002 it went into partnership with French wine company Castel to build the enormous Chateau Changyu-Castel in Shandong, and has followed that with six other chateaux.