Efforts to preserve the centuries-old imperial porcelain factory in Jingdezhen city in east China's Jiangxi Province have been going for years. The project will be finally completed later this year, and aims to turn the site into a new landmark for the famous 'capital of ceramics'.

Jingdezhen has a long history of porcelain making, and produced porcelain wares for imperial use as far back as ancient China's Ming and Qing dynasties. The imperial factory was founded in 1369, only a year after the Ming Dynasty commenced. The fire in the factory's furnace did not go out from that date until the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in the early twentieth century.

The historic site had since been sleeping quietly underground in a Jingdezhen suburb, before being unearthed in 1982 by a scholar on ancient ceramics. Large-scale excavation began in 2002, and the construction of a museum over the site started three years later.

The museum will mainly consist of two parts. The structures above ground will keep to the factory's original look --- simple and old-fashioned. The underground area will protect and feature a collection of precious ancient porcelain wares found in the city.

"A complete outline of the imperial porcelain factory's history will be on display to the public. It will also be a museum with porcelain samples showing different features of various historical periods," Jiang Jianxin, director of Jiangdezhen Porcelain Archeology Institute, said.

Covering an area of over 130-thousand square meters, the whole project will cost up to 4 billion yuan or about 580 million US dollars. The museum is expected to open to the public next year.