China has completed construction of the world’s largest radio telescope — a man-made bowl cut into the mountains of southern Guizhou province which will scan the heavens for clues as to the origins of the universe and signs of intelligent life.

The Rmb1.2bn ($180m) telescope took five years to build and has an aperture of 500m, allowing it to scour more of the skies than the previous holder of the largest telescope crown, the 300m Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

Decades of high-powered growth have given China the means to invest in “prestige” sciences such as astronomy that are normally the preserve of the world’s richest nations. President Xi Jinping has called for China to become a space power and the country hopes to land a man on the moon by 2036.