President Hu inaugurates Macao Science Center

MACAO, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao cut the ribbon to open the Macao Science Center on Saturday, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland.

Hu unveiled a memorial of the center and then cut the ribbon for the unique structure together with Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (1st L, front) visits Macao house waste treatment  center in Macao Special Administrative Region in south China on Dec. 19, 2009. (Xinhua/Song Zhenping)

Construction of the center began more than three years ago, with a total investment of 337 million patacas (42.6 million U.S. dollars).

Designed by I. M. Pei, a world-renowned Chinese-American architect, the 5,800-square-meter center now becomes a new landmark of Macao.

Hu visited the exhibits at the center, including a model of Shenzhou-VII space aircraft and Macao's light rail system, and taught local pupils some scientific principles.

"You are the hope and future of our nation," Hu told a group of pupils who were seeing a popular science film. The president said he hoped them to become creation-oriented talents and serve Macao and the country.

Edmund Ho said the new science center would become both a base to popularize science and knowledge and a platform to promote patriotism.