A fire destroyed a 600-year-old ancient building in China's southwestern province of Yunnan on Saturday (January 3) morning, state media reported.

The blaze broke out at 2:49 a.m. (1849 GMT on Friday) on Saturday morning at the "Gongchen" gate that was built in China's Ming dynasty, around the year of 1390, in Weishan county in Dali, a tourist city in Yunnan province, China's state broadcaster reported.

The gate building consists of two parts -- it has a stone structure at the bottom and a wooden structure on the top. The wooden part of the building was completely destroyed by the fire, CCTV reported.

Around 10 fire engines and over 150 firefighters were dispatched to the site and the blaze was put out at 4:48 a.m. (2049 GMT on Friday), CCTV said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, state television added.

Last January, a fire burnt down ancient wooden buildings in a Tibetan town in China's Shangri-la county.