The city of Jilin, in Jilin province, will watch some replicas of early warships from the time of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911) unfurl their sails, on May 1.

The city's shipbuilding past began in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and by the Qing had made it a major shipyard.

Workers busy on the warships by Songhua Lake, in the city of Jilin, on April 28. [Photo by Wang Mingming/asianewsphoto]

The backer of this attempt to revisit the city's past is a local tourism group, which says it expects to use all 15 of the warships after this trial run -- at a total cost of 100 million yuan ($16 million).

Replica warships waiting for their trial voyage. [Photo by Wang Mingming/asianewsphoto]