Photographs from our Visit to China
(for Solar Eclipse and Conference in Suzhou, July, 2009)

First Impressions:
Travelling from Shanghai airport on the Maglev Train at 400 km p h:

The hotel in Suzhou, where the conference was held:

A warm welcome from Fang Cheng and his wife,
who had looked after me on my previous visit in 1983
-- what a different world it is now:

Suzhou is a bustling wealthy city of 9 million
with mopeds having replaced many bikes:

and with much charm:

On the day of the eclipse, it was cloudy and drizzly:

so after driving around we
(Terry Forbes, Gerry and Anna Doyle, Len Culhane ...)
watched it in a hotel:

and after totality glimpsed the crescent Sun through the clouds:

Suzhou is a delightful city
-- we had a trip on a canal:

and perched on the front of our boat were
myself, Philippa and Valera:

The Master of Nets Garden:

A visit to a silk factory:
Caterpillar, cocoon, moth and mulberry bush:

Terry feeling hungry seeing the silk caterpillars:

Untwisting the silk from the cocoons:

Weaving the silk:

Marina and Anna happy with their beautiful silk purchases:

At the conference, there were lots of old friends:
Krishnanand Sinha, Eric, Terry Forbes and Gu Xiao Ma:

Wang Jingxiu:

Valera Nakariakov, Terry Forbes and Philippa Browning:

An emperor emulating Valera:

Feng Si-Yi and the other student helpers:

Valera and Natasha:

Chen Peng-Fei:

Chen Peng-Fei popular with the waitresses:

Ding Ming-De:

Fang Cheng being interviewed for tv
in front of silk versions of famous astronomy pictures:

Testing the memory of the attendees
about amusing statements:

The conference banquet was fun:

Fang Cheng with Eric:

Showing Len how to shadow box:

With happy groups of young scientists:

(Liu Yu, Xie Bingrong, Eric, Zhang Yin)

(Fan Yu-liang, Zhang Qing-min, Zhu Xiao-shuai, Eric, Jiang Rong-lin, Chen Feng)

(Hu Yiming, Wu You, Feng Si-Yi, Eric, Chen Feng, Zhu Xiaoshuai, He Han)

(Zhang Yin)

(Wang Xiupeng)

Opera and music at the conference dinner: