Where's the best place in China to see the upcoming solar eclipse?

February 17, 2009 4:37 PM

Where in China should I go to best experience the total solar eclipse this July?

I've been thinking about visiting China for a while and the eclipse is just the excuse I need. My plan is to go to Beijing, Shanghai and Guilin but nothing's definite.

This map shows the path of totality for the eclipse. Where along the path is most likely to have clear (enough) skies?

posted by the duck by the oboe to Travel & Transportation around China (5 answers total)

Best answer: Shanghai, according to Richard Dawkins.

Some info here too. "Take your eclipse equipment and drive to Anji, a county famous of bamboos. The Tianhuangping observation point is the best place with the best conditions (1,000m above sea level without any light pollution)."

Anji: a country famous of bamboos.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:45 PM on February 17, 2009

Purple Mountain in Nanjing.
posted by BobbyDigital at 6:41 PM on February 17, 2009

Currently in Nanjing. It's almost a sure bet that the sky will be hazy. As an example, here's a hazy view of the city I photographed from the Purple-Gold Mountain, mentioned above. I think that picture was taken in September of 2007. In the past few months, possibly due to less factory production in the economic crisis, we've had more days of blue sky than most people can remember, however.
posted by msbrauer at 1:00 AM on February 18, 2009

Meili Mountain near Dequin, Yunnan.

Meili is located near where the red line crosses into Burma. Warning it is cold and the guest houses don't have hot running water all day.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:15 AM on February 18, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks all, after some vacillation I had a rush of blood to the head and decided to head to Shanghai... Via St Petersburg, Moscow, Irkutsk and Ulan Bator. More questions sure to follow!
posted by the duck by the oboe at 10:56 PM on March 11, 2009