Artificial sun shines on world's biggest building in China

The New Century Global Center in Chengdu, south-west China, is 500 metres long, 400 metres wide and 100 metres high.

Dubai International Airport has lost its status as the world's biggest building to a sprawling structure in China complete with a water park, Mediterranean village and its own artificial sun.

The New Century Global Center in Chengdu, south-west China, is 500 metres long, 400 metres wide and 100 metres high and has enough floor space to accommodate almost 330 football pitches.

At 1.7 million square metres, it has edged out Dubai's Terminal 3, the world's previous record holder, with a floor space of 1.5 million sq metres.

The Chengdu structure will house a cinema, ice rink and two five-star hotels, 400,000 sq metres of shopping space, offices, a university complex and two commercial centres.

Its artificial sun will provide light and heat 24 hours a day for shoppers.

But the building's showpiece will be the water park, which will have a 400-metre coast and artificial beaches. Up to 6,000 visitors can visit at a time. A large LED screen will rise above the water to give the appearance of an ocean horizon. "This is an ocean city built by man," Liu Xun, a guide, told AFP.

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province, the home of endangered giant pandas and China's electronics and IT industry.