Pingtan in Southeast China's Fujian province shall build an Austronesian archaeological institute, the first of its kind in the country, local government announced recently.

Austronesian languages are spoken by more than 300 million people on islands across the Pacific Ocean.

Pingtan is a significant origin of Austronesian culture and the discoveries there give clues about how people migrated from the Asian continent to islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The institute shall be built near the historic sites, and will collect and repair the cultural relics and display them for the public. It is designed to cover 16,000 square meters near the city's Shangpan village.

It will also be an important base for research and exchanges between China and other countries with Austronesian culture.

The first phase of the institute is expected to finish construction in late October.

An artistic impression of the China's first Austronesian archaeological institute to be built in Pingtan, Fujian province [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]