Technicians check liquefied natural gas facilities in Nantong, Jiangsu province. [Photo by Xu Congjun/For China Daily]

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute in Shanghai has taken a big step forward in boosting physics research in China with the groundbreaking for the construction of its laboratory held on Aug 29. The building, located in Zhangjiang Science City, will cover 2.8 hectares and is expected be completed by 2020.

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute was established at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in November 2016, thanks to a proposal by the eponymous Chinese-American physicist to the Chinese government.

"I hope to set up a topnotch science institute in China to make great contribution to physics, similar to Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in the United States," said Tsung-Dao Lee, who is also the honorary director of the institute, in a congratulatory letter to the university, adding that he will work to enhance the institute's global influence.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China report highlighted the need to aim for the frontiers of science and technology, strengthen basic research, and make major breakthroughs in pioneering innovation.