Eclipse tourists overwhelm west China county

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-31 21:28

He said hundreds of tourists would stay in camps provided by the county government and others would be advised to go to Hami City and other neighboring towns, after the eclipse.

Tourism in the county is still developing as it promotes its attractions of the pastoral life and a desert oasis.

Professor Paul Doherty, a senior physicist from the San Francisco State University, said he took a 14-hour ride from Urumqi to Yiwu on Thursday.

He had observed seven total solar eclipses around the world.

"It is my first trip to China. The journey to Yiwu along the old Silk Road was exciting," said Doherty, who was camping near the observation square.

He was optimistic that the weather would be favorable on Friday.

The CAS will broadcast the total solar eclipse live on the Internet, and China Central Television and Xinjiang TV will broadcast it live.

Friday's spectacle will be the first solar eclipse to be viewed in China in this century. Canada, the Arctic Ocean and central Russia would also be covered by the eclipse.

Astronomers observed that China was entering a high incidence period for solar eclipses with the next due in January next year.

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