Time to celebrate a century of clock-making

China's own ticking sound has lasted for a century, since a pathfinder's entrepreneurship in Yantai, a seaside city in Shandong province.

When Li Dongshan (1873-1946), a former hardware-store owner, decided to open his Baoshi Clock Factory in 1915 (it was renamed Polaris in 1960) in the city after years as an apprentice in Germany and Japan, he likely didn't expect his country - with the poor industry foundation of his era - would have such a grand birthday party for tick-tock machines today.

More than 400 people gathered in Yantai on July 10 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of China's modern clock industry.