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Circular Letter #20
Subject: ICM2002-CL20: Footloose Tours, second announcement
Date: July 11, 2002
Dear Colleague:
Since the circular letter 19 of ICM2002 was distributed, many
requests for joining the Footloose Tours have been received. Based
on the requests, we have added two new tours (Confucius Temple
and Legend Computer Company) and assigned additional dates for
the tours to Chinese Ethnic Culture Park and Beijing Botanic Garden.
All tours will start in front of the Congress Venue (Beijing International
Convention Center). Buses (free of charges) will be provided by the
Organizing Committee. The duration time for each tour will be no longer
than 3 hours, unless we have bad traffic. For example, if you take a
Tootloose tour at 9.00AM, you should be back to the Congress Venue
at noon.
More Footloose tours may be arranged. So please check our website
http://www.icm2002.org.cn/K/Footloose_Tours.htm
often for up-to-date information about the Footloose Tours. Updated
descriptions of the tours can also be found in the above mentioned
website (there was a typo in the circular letter 19, the year that
Yuanmingyuan was detroyed should be 1860). Now the up-to-date
list of Footloose Tours is as follows:
1. Great Bell Temple (Da zhong si)
August 21, 9.00
August 27, 3.00
2. Madam Song's Mansion
August 21, 3.00
3. Chinese Ethnic Culture Park
August 22, 9.00
August 27, 9.00
4. Beijing Botanic Garden
August 23, 9.00
August 26, 9.00
5. Peking University
August 24, 9.00
6. Yuan Ming Yuan (the old Summer Palace)
August 26, 9.00
August 22, 3.00
7. Ancient Observatory(Gu Guan Xiang Tai)
August 27, 9.00
August 23, 3.00
8. Exhibition Hall of Chinese Science and Technology
August 28, 9.00
August 24, 3.00
9. Confucius Temple
August 26, 9.00
10. Legend Computer Company
August 22, 9.00
A brief of descriptions of the footloose tours and their entrance fees
(please notice that eight yuans is rouhgly one US dollars) are as follows.
_______________________________________________________
1. GREAT BELL TEMPLE(Da Zhong Si)
Situated in Haidian in the northwestern suburbs, the temple was built in
1732 in the reign of Emperor YongZheng of the Qing Dynasty. Its original
name is Temple of Awakening (Jueshengsi), and because of the famous
bell it houses it has popularly been known as the Great Bell Temple.
It is the largest bell in China and the second largest in the world.
Originally it was one to the six to be hung at the six corners of the city
walls to strike the hours, but now it is the only remaining one.
The Bell is also know as the Avatamsaka Bell because it bears the full
text of all 81 volumes of the Lotus Scripture(the Avatamsaka Sutra). It
is sometimes referred to as the Yongle Bell since it was cast by the
order of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty in 1406.
Entrance Fee: 10 yuans
2. MADAM SONG's MANSION(Song Qing Ling Gu Ju)
Madam Song Qingling was the wife of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder
of the republic, and she herself was the Vice-president of the People's
Republic of China. As the second daughter of the famous Song family
(Her younger sister Song Mei-ling married Chiang Kai-shek), she studied
in the United States and was deeply involved in China's political life.
Just as Dr. Sun Yat-sen was regarded as the "Father of the Republic",
she was sometimes called the "Mother of the Republic". Her personal
life was to some extent a mini-history of modern China.
In 1981, her residence was turned into a museum dedicated to the
memory of her and Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The layout of the houses and
the arrangement of the furniture and her personal belongings are
kept as they were when she was alive. Pictures of historical interest
are also displayed.
Entrance Fee: 10 Yuans.
3. CHINESE ETHNIC CULTURE PARK(Zhong Hua Min Zu Yuan)
This culture park is indeed a big museum of the nationalities of China.
China has 56 nationalities. In this park, houses(villages) of all the
different nationalities can be found. Culture shows, such as special
dances, wedding ceremonies, songs, festival celebrations of different
ethnic groups, are given in the park regularly.
A visit to this park will at least give you a flavour of China's multinational
cultures.
Entrance Fee: 60 Yuans
4. BEIJING BOTANIC GARDEN (Bei Jing Zhi Wu Yuan)
Located at the Foot of the Fragrant Hills, Beijing Botanic Garden is one
of the largest botanic gardens in China. The recent built greenhouse is
also one of the main attractions of the botanic garden. The Temple of
the Recumbent Buddha(Wo fo si) is inside the Botanic Garden.
Entrance Fee:
5 Yuans for the Botanic Garden;
an additional 5 Yuans for the Temple of the Recumbent Buddha
5. PEKING UNIVERSITY
Peking University is one of the best and most famous universities in
China. Having over 100 years history, Peking University is also one
of the oldest universities in China. The site of Peking University was
a garden in the Qing Dynasty. This tour is a walk in the beautiful
campus of Peking University.
Entrance Fee: free
6. RUINS OF YUANMINGYUAN(Yuan Ming Yuan Yi Zhi)
Yuanmingyuan (the Garden of Perfection and Brightness) is actually
three gardens. It used to be the summer palace in Qing Dynasty
(please notice that it is older than the Summer Palace, the later one
being one of the most visited places in Beijing now). The whole garden
was destroyed by Anglo-French joint force in 1860. The whole grounds
were set on fire, and treasures were plundered.
Since most the buildings were wooden structures, almost nothing
escaped the fires, except in on corner of the garden there still stand
some broken stone pillars and collapsed arches. This is a group of
Western-style Renaissance buildings to the north of the Garden.
They were designed by Western architects employed by the Qing
court at the time, and constructed by Chinese artisans. From the
ruins we still can imagine out the grandeus of the palaces.
Entrance Fee:
10 Yuans for the Park, an additional 15 Yuans to see the Ruins.
7. ANCIENT OBSERVATORY(Gu Guan Xiang Tai)
This ancient observatory seats on a high platform which was used
to be the battlements of a watchtower on the Beijing city walls. An
astronomical observatory was set up around this site in 1279 during
the Yuan Dynasty, and astronomical instruments designed and made
by the famous astronomer, hydraulics engineer and mathematician
Guo Shou Jing and by other astronomers were installed on the top
of the observatory. The observatory and instruments were the most
advanced in the world at that time.
Entrance Fee: 10 Yuans
8. EXHIBITION HALL OF CHINESE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The Exhibition Hall of Chinese science and Technology is the largest
science museum in Beijing. Located by the north third ring road, the
exhibition hall is not far from the Congress Venue. It is one of the
main attractions for children in Beijing.
Entrance Fee: 20 Yuans
9. Confucius Temple
The Confucius Temple in Beijing was built during the Yuan Dynasty
in 1306, and it is the second largest Confucian temple in China after
the one in QuFu, Shantong Province.
Confucius, the great thinker and philosopher in ancient China during
the Spring and Autumn period(770-476BC), lived between 551-479
BC. The Confucianism founded by him advocates the rule of virtue
and benevolence and stresses good morals.
Entrance Fee: 10 Yuans
10. Legend Computer Company
Legend is the best selling PC brand in the PRC, commanding 30%
of the market share in 2001. Its innovative policies and strategic
alliances with international computer vendors, continue to reaffirm
its leading position in the PRC's computer market. In fact, It is
regarded by many of the international vendors as a key partner.
This tour will take you to the headquarters Office of the Legend
Company, which is located in ShangTi in north of Zhong Guan
Cun. ShangTi is regarded as the new Silicon Valley of China.
Entrance Fee: Free
____________________________________________________
Once again, please notice that the places for these footloose
tours are very limited, and will be served in a "first come first take"
principle. Therefore, if you want to join any of the footloose tours,
please contact Ms Huijuan Wang (whj@mx.amss.ac.cn) as soon
as possible. When you contact her, please provide your name,
ICM2002 registration numbers, the tour number(s) and the
date(s) of the tour(s).
Yours sincerely,
Ma, Zhiming
Chairman, Organizing Committee of ICM2002
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