TOURS

Tours Reservation
The local tours and post-congress tours will be arranged by CICCST. These will offer you a very good opportunity to appreciate Chinese culture, ancient civilization and traditions. The tours should be booked by using the Registration Form and paid for it before Aug. 31, 2006.

PR- Half-Day Local Tour
Oct. 23 (Mon)
A The Great Wall 13:30 – 16:30 USD25/person
B The Forbidden City 13:30 – 16:30 USD28/person
Please make reservation beforehand. It will be cancelled if the group is less than 10 persons.

Local Tour (LT)
LT-1 The Summer Palace – lunch – The Lama Temple
Oct. 24 (Tue.) 08:30 – 16:00 USD35/person

LT-2 The Great Wall – lunch – The Ming Tombs – Art Factory
Oct. 25 (Wed.) 08:00 – 16:30 USD40/person

LT-3 The Forbidden City – lunch – The Temple of Heaven
Oct. 26 (Thu.) 08:30 – 16:00 USD40/person

LT-4 Beijing Zoo- lunch – Hutong Tour – Shopping
Oct. 27 (Fri.) 08:30 – 16:00 USD30/person

Note: The local tour fees include an English-speaking tour guide, bus, entrance fees and Chinese lunch. Tours are nonrefundable once purchased. Please make the reservation in the Registration Form. Buses will depart from gate of No.2 building in Friendship Hotel.

Evening Program (EP)
EP-1 Peking Opera

Oct. 23 (Mon.) 18:10 – 22:00 USD20/person
Peking Opera has entertained Beijingers for over 200 years with its elaborate costumes, ear-splitting arias, dazzling martial arts and musical dialogue. They are usually based on folk tales, famous novels, and fairy tales. The theater has a subtitle message board of English and Chinese. Please make reservation before arrival. It will be cancelled if the group is less than 10 persons.

EP-2 Acrobatic Show

Oct. 25 (Wed.) 18:10 – 22:00 USD20/person
The Chinese Acrobatic Troupes have traveled to many countries and have amazed audiences everywhere. To watch the Chinese Acrobats is an experience that spectators will remember for the rest of their lives.
Please make reservation in advance. It will be cancelled if the group is less than 10 persons.

POST CONGRESS TOURS (PT)
PT-1 Beijing – Xi’an – Beijing

Oct 28 (Sat.)	Fly to Xi'an in the morning. Visit the Wild Goose Pagoda and the Old City Wall
Oct. 29 (Sun.)	Visit the Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses and Sha'anxi Province History Museum, etc. Fly back to Beijing in the evening, pick up to the hotel by bus and stay in the hotel
Oct. 30 (Mon.)	Tour ends after breakfast.
Price:	Single Room USD490/person
	Twin Room USD450/person

PT-2 Beijing – Kunming – Dali – Lijiang – Kunming –(Hong Kong)

Oct. 28 (Sat.)	Fly to Kunming. Visit the Stone Forest etc. Stay in the hotel.
Oct. 29 (Sun.)	Fly to Dali. Visit Erhai Lake, three Pagodas ect., stay in the hotel
Oct. 30 (Mon.)	To Lijiang by Bus. Sightseeing in Lijiang City.
Oct. 31 (Tue.)	Go to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain etc. Fly to Kunming and stay in the hotel.
Nov. 1 (Wed.)	Tour ends after breakfast
	(Please buy air-ticket to Hong Kong by yourself)
Price:	Single Room USD850/person
	Twin Room USD730/person

PT-3 Beijing – Urumqi – Turpan – Dunhuang-Jiayuguan – Lanzhou – Shanghai (exit)

Oct. 28(Sat.)	Fly to Urumqi. Sightseeing in the afternoon. Stay in the hotel.
Oct. 29(Sun.)	Take bus to Turpan. Sightseeing in Turpan. To Dunhuang by train overnight (sleeper)
Oct. 30 (Mon.)	Sightseeing in Dunhuang. (Visit Mogao Grottoes etc.). Stay in the hotel.
Oct. 31 (Tue.)	Visit Crescent Moon Spring, Singing Sand Dunes etc. Go to Jiayuguan Pass in the afternoon by bus, stay in the hotel.
Nov. 1 (Wed)	Visit Jiayuguan Pass(west end tower) of the Great Wall etc. Go to Lanzhou by train overnight (sleeper)
Nov.2. (Thu.)	After breakfast in Lanzhou, go to “Little Tibet” Gannan Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, visit Sangke Grassland, stay in the hotel.
Nov. 3. (Fri.)	Visit the famous Labrang Lamasery. Go back to Lanzhou by bus afternoon. Stay in the hotel in Lanzhou.
Nov. 4 (Sat.)	Fly to Shanghai. Sightseeing in Shanghai, stay in the hotel.
Nov. 5. (Sun)	Tour ends after breakfast.
Price:	Single room USD1480/person
	Twin room USD1350/person

Note:
1. The tour fees include intercity transportation, hotel accommodations (above three star hotels), regular meals, an English-speaking tour guide and entrance fees. You can arrange the flight from the tour end city by yourself. CICCST could assist you as well.
2. Please find the roommate by yourself if applying for a twin room.
3. CICCST will reserve the right to raise the prices or cancel any of the above tour routes, if there are less than 10 attendees. In that case, the notification will be sent to you as soon as possible and the tour fee will be fully refunded.
4. Additional tour sites information will be posted on the web.
5. Refund Policy: 1. Before Sep.15 90 % refundable
2. After Sep. 15 70 % refundable

Tour Introduction
Places visited after and during the Symposium

Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
The Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences was founded in 1958. It has been developed as a leading national research entity in vegetables and flower sciences with a total of 187 staff members, of which 24 are professors. It is divided into eight departments of Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Crucifers Breeding. Solanums Breeding, Cucurbits Breeding, Cultivation and Post-harvest Technology, Plant Protection and Flower Breeding and Culture. The Institute possesses 40 hectares of experiment farms including an acreage of 34.000 square meters of greenhouse and 6000 square meters of polyhouse equipped with 102 pieces of instruments or equipments. Chinese Society for Horticultural Science is located in the institute.
The institute edits and publishes two journals, ″Acta Horticulturae Sinica″ and ″China Vegetables″.
International cooperation and exchanges are carried out with scientists in the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, Russia, Israel and so on. More than 1200 foreign scientists have visited the institute and nearly 50 scientists of the institute are now conducting scientific research or being trained worldwide.

The Great Wall
Stretching for 6,000 kilometers from the east to the west, the Great Wall is China's ancient gigantic engineering project, one of the eight wonders of the world and the only man-made construction visible from satellites in orbit. Building of the Wall began during the Warring State Period (476-221 BC). When separate sections were built in scattered strategic areas by different kingdoms to protect their territories. Following China' s unification under the first Qin emperor. Qin Shi Huangdi (221-206 BC), the walls were linked up and extended. The imposing Badaling section, visited by virtually all tourists to the capital, is 6.6 meters high, 5.5 meters wide, broad enough to accommodate five cavalrymen or 10 infantrymen marching abreast. Standing atop the Great Walls, visitors looking through slots and over parapets can imagine the terrible battles, which were fought here hundreds of years ago.

The Ming Tombs
Of the 16 Ming emperors, 13 had their tombs built in the serene valley of Jingdushan Hill, about 50 kilometers from Beijing. Ding Ling (Emperor Wan Li) was buried here in 1620 with two of his wives in a deep marble vault located four stories underground, excavated in 1957. Twenty-six chests of jewelry and other artifacts were discovered at the foot of the huge coffins, and many of these finds can be viewed in the two exhibition halls constructed aboveground.

The Palace Museum (The Forbidden City)
Commonly known as the Forbidden City, the Palace Museum is the largest piece of ancient Chinese architecture still standing. It covers an area of 72 hectares, 960 meters long from north to south and 750 meters wide from east to west, and is encircled by a 10-meter high wall and a 52-meter wide moat. This large-scale construction, one of the great achievements of human history, took 14 years and was finished in 1420. The entire complex includes six main palaces, as well as many smaller buildings, together containing 9,999 rooms. It is a vast treasure house of precious art objects and rich architecture. Twenty-four emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties ruled from the Forbidden City.

The Summer Palace
The Summer Palace (Yi He Yuan), so named because it served as the summer residence of the imperial households, consists of the Longevity Hill (59 meters high) and Kunming Lake with a total area of 290 hectares. It has a history of over 800 years. In 1153, the Jin Dynasty built an imperial palace on the present site of the Summer Palace. In 1750, Emperor Qianlong spent 4.8 million tales of silver in building the Garden of Clear Ripples and changed the name to Longevity Hill to celebrate his mother's birthday and the lake to Kunming for he wanted to follow the example of Emperor Wudi of Han Dynasty who had trained his navy centuries before in Kunming pool in Chang'an (near Xi'an).

The Temple of Heaven
Covering an area of 273 hectares, the Temple is a masterpiece of 15th-century architecture built in 1 420 according to the most advanced principles of mechanics and geometry available at the time. It consists mainly of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the Imperial Vault of Heaven, and the Circular Mound Altar of Heaven. It was the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped heaven and prayed for good harvests twice a year, on the 15th day of the first lunar month and at the winter solstice.

The Lama Temple
The Lama Temple (Yonghe Palace) is a famous lamasery located in the northeastern part of the old city. It was a palatial residence built in 1694 by Qing Emperor Kangxi for his fourth son, Prince Yongzheng. This magnificent temple consists of five main buildings lying on the north-south axis, with annex halls on both sides. After Emperor Yongzheng moved to the Forbidden City, it was renamed Yonghe Palace (the Palace of Harmony) and green roof tiles were replaced by yellow ones to suit a monarch’s home. The Palace was converted into a lamasery in 1744. In the last hall stands a spectacular 18-meters Maitria Buddha carved from a single sand wood tree.

Xi'an
Terra- Cotta Warriors and Horses. These life-sized figures served as a terra-cotta army for the tomb of the first emperor of Qinshihuang (259-210 BC.).
Huaqing Hot Springs. Situated at the foot of Mount Lishan, it has been famous since ancient times, where the royal families spent their summer time and took hot spring baths.
Banpo Neolithic Museum is built on the ruins of a 6 000 year-old Banpo Village. Traces of 100 houses have been found, with remarkably preserved examples of Stone Age pottery, tools, and human and animal bones. Banpo Village was a typical matriarchal clan community in the Yellow River valley.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the symbol of the city, was built in the Tang Dynasty (652 A.D.) to house the 657 volumes of Buddhist scriptures brought back from India by the monk Xuan Zang.
The Ancient City Wall, built during the Tang Dynasty, is the only complete city wall extant in China.
The Provincial Museum is one of the best museums in China. Displaying hundreds of thousands of precious exhibits.

Kunming
Kunming is the capital of Yunnan Province. In Kunming it’s like spring all the year round. It is famed with the International Horticultural Exposition, Stone Forest and ethnic culture.

Dali
Dali used to be the cultural center of Yunnan Province in the Tang and Song dynasties. The main inhabitants are of the Bai Nationality.
Three Pagodas, built in the Tang Dynasty of 1000 years ago, is the symbol of Dali.
Zhoucheng is a village of the Bai Nationality with traditional Bai houses and wax printing factory.

Lijiang
Lijiang is a small city 2200 meters above seal level at the Yangtze River, with rivers and lanes crossing the whole city. Dongba, the native language used by the Naxi Nationality, is the only pictographic language in the world.
Sifangjie, built in the Ming Dynasty, is the center of the city. Walking around, you can enjoy the traditional architecture and customs of the Naxi Nationality.
Yulong Snow Mountain is a beautiful mountain and at the lowest latitude in the world to be covered with snow all the year around.
Baisha Frescoes, created in the Ming Dynasty, reflect the mixed culture of the Han and Tibet nationalities.
Naxi Ancient Music Performance. Naxi ancient music, created in the Tang Dynasty about 1000 years ago, is performed by a group of amateurs of average age of 70.

Urumqi
Urumqi is the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and a strategic pass on the Silk Road.
At Nanshan Pasture, you may visit a local family and chat with them.

Turpan
Ancient City of Gaochang, situated at the foot of the flaming mountains, was founded in the first century BC and abandoned by the end of the 13th century. It consists of three parts: the inner, outer and the palace cities, with an area of two million square meters of rammed earth.
Baizeklik Thousand-Buddha Caves was the Buddhist center from the 6th to the 13th centuries. There are 77 caves, of which 40 have murals including stories from”Buddhacari-Takavysultra” and mourning Buddhist monks and Sakyamuni’s disciples from “Nirvana”.
Astana-Karakhoja Ancient Tombs scattered over a 10 square-kilometer are. Buried there are both officials and common people of the Cheshi, Hun and mainly Han nationalities. Some 1,000-year-old mummified corpses have unearthed.
Grape valley lies on the west side of the flaming mountains. It is extremely hot in summer in Turpan, especially on the flaming mountains, but it is pleasingly cool and humid in the valley with its crisscross irrigation channels and many leafy trees. The valley abounds in grapes.

Dunhuang
Dunhuang is an oasis in the desert and an important town on the Silk Road.
Mogao Grottoes, commonly called the “Thousand-Buddha caves” extend 1,600 meters. Carving was begun in 366 AD. There are 492 caves with some 45,000 square meters of murals, more than 2,000 painted clay figures and five wooden structures. Mogao Grottoes stand as the largest treasure house of grotto in China.
Singing Sand Mountain gets its name because the wind produces a pleasant sound when it blows over the sand. Slipping down the hilltop, you can hear the sand’s“singing” sound.

Shanghai

Shanghai, the biggest economic center in China.
Yuyuan Garden. Built in 1559, it occupies only two hectares and yet offers 40 scenic attractions complete with beautiful pavilions, miniature lakes, bridges and rocks. It is the prime tourist spot in Shanghai.
The Bund, once known as “Wall Street of the East”, is a bustling promenade along the Huangpu River.