Wal-Mart, the world's top retailer, is going to open a large shopping center in Hangzhou, a scenic city and capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.

A letter of intent for the approximately 300 million yuan (about 36.3 million US dollars) project was signed between the US-based retailer and a Chinese commercial company, namely Shenzhen Guotou Commercial Properties Company, at an investment fair being held in this famous Chinese tourism city on Tuesday.

Construction on the shopping center, a five-storied building with a floor space of some 55,000 square meters, is scheduled to begin early next year and open within two years.

This will be the first Wal-Mart store in Hangzhou city and alsothe first in Zhejiang Province, according to a source with the government of Xihu (West Lake) District of Hangzhou, where the Wal-Mart store will be located.

Wal-Mart has opened 39 outlets in 19 major Chinese cities, including Shenzhen, Beijing, Harbin and Nanjing, in the past eightsince 1996. The retailer has employed more than 20,000 people in China.

Wal-Mart boasts the largest revenues among its peer companies, and it topped the global Fortune 500 from 2000-2003, with a total of 1.5 million employees.

Source: Xinhua