The world's largest abacus made of red sandalwood is on display at the China Abacus Museum in Nantong. [Photo/ntjoy.com]

Upgrading works for the China Abacus Museum in Nantong, Jiangsu province will start in June and be completed by the end of the year, local media outlets reported.

The upgrading will include expanding the exhibition hall from the current 1,500 square meters to 2,500 square meters and increasing the number of exhibits from the current 202 to nearly 1,000.

The move is meant to build the museum into a patriotism education venue for people of all ages, and make the scholarly museum more acceptable to the public.

The museum was built by the China Association of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic and the Nantong Municipal People's Government, and is currently affiliated to the city's finance bureau.

Since its opening in Dec 19, 2004, the museum has been focused on the research, popularization, and education of abacus and mental arithmetic and has become a name card of Nantong city.

It has also collected a large number of cultural relics and historical materials related to abacus arithmetic.

After the upgrading works, the museum will have three exhibition halls documenting the history and culture of abacus arithmetic and displaying various abacuses. The other two exhibition halls will allow visitors to experience abacus arithmetic and hold provisional exhibitions and academic activities.