The enormous bowl-shaped metal structure bears a resemblance to a hot pot dish or a wok.

"It looks magnificent. I've never seen such a big iron pan," said Mr. Fu, a 60-year-old military supply company worker standing on a slick wooden viewing platform overlooking the Five hundred metre Aperture Spherical Telescope, aka FAST, in the heart of rural China's southwest Guizhou province.

"It really lives up to its reputation," he added, as spitty rain flecked his glasses.

Mr. Fu was one of around 50 umbrella-wielding tourists ogling FAST one day last May. The dish was designed to help explore and map space, and to listen for messages from extraterrestrial life, as China's space ambitions continue to crank up.