The building is the latest in a surge of ambitious construction projects in the Chinese capital, which along with other cities in China is attracting cutting-edge international architects keen to push design boundaries.

A groundbreaking ceremony on the planned 500-metre (1,650-feet) tall China Zun tower, named after a type of traditional Chinese wine vessel, took place in Beijing Monday, a spokesman for CITIC, the building's developer, told AFP.

The state-owned investment giant said the tower would be both its office building and a tourist attraction.

It would feature the latest energy-saving technology, and the top floor would encourage sightseeing from a platform and have a cafe with panoramic views, CITIC told the state-run Global Times.

Online pictures of a model of the tower show a slender glass and steel structure that appears to have an observation platform on the roof and a central atrium at the top of the building.

It will be built just a stone's throw from the 330-metre-tall China World Trade Center Tower 3, Beijing's current tallest building.

In the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, the capital added buildings such as the ultra-modern opera house -- a rounded titanium and glass structure -- by French architect Paul Andreu, and the 90,000-seat "Bird's Nest" stadium.

The soaring, cantilevered China Central Television Tower by Dutch architectural wunderkind Rem Koolhaas -- described as one of the most daring pieces of architecture ever attempted -- was also built to much acclaim.

Renowned British architect Norman Foster, meanwhile, who designed Terminal 3 at Beijing's international airport, is also building CITIC Bank headquarters in the eastern city of Hangzhou.

Mao Xinyu is to be a part-time teacher of his grandfather's philosophy, taking on a class of 65 students at Guangzhou University's Songtian Professional College, according to a statement on the school's website.

The heavy-set 41-year-old, who bears a resemblance to his grandfather, has acknowledged that his family background has helped his career progress.

He is already a major general and researcher in the People's Liberation Army, and a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a body that in theory advises the main congress on political matters.

And Mao said he will be keeping a close eye on his new students.

He has encouraged them to post their problems on his microblogging account on people.com.cn, so that he can help them, according to the school's statement.

And he has also told teachers to keep him abreast of the students' academic performance.

"In their next four years of university education, which students usually have better results, who usually has the worst result, who likes to play truant, who needs help, please tell me regularly," he told the class counsellor.

Mao has written several books including "My Grandfather Mao Zedong" and was once voted one of the most popular bloggers on the website of the People's Daily, the Communist Party's newspaper.

In an interview published in August last year, he expressed a desire to get more involved in politics and said that his family background had "definitely" helped his progress in the army.

"That is an objective fact, it can't be avoided," he was quoted as saying by the popular web portal Netease.

"I think that my friends and my army colleagues have this feeling. Everyone shifts their respect and love of Chairman Mao on me, so this definitely was a factor."