A tourist town that allows people to speak only English will be built in Miyun county, northeast Beijing, the Beijing News reported.

The town will try to attract English lovers in China and provide a "best place to practice English," said Wang Haichen, head of the county.

The "English only" town will have a European architectural style and contain 16 blocks, he said. Each tourist will get a passport before entering the town, and speaking Chinese will lead to point deductions on the passport.

"The idea is to avoid competition with other European-style towns at home," Wang said. The construction of the town is expected to take five years.