Hangzhou to witness solar eclipse and high tides on Wednesday

• Source: Global Times
• [12:10 July 21 2009]
• Comments

By Zhu Shanshan

A once-in-a-century solar eclipse can be seen in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang Province on Wednesday, where there will also be a high tide of the Qianjiang River on the same day, according to Zhejiang online.

The eclipse will start at 8:21 am on Wednesday and is expected to last five minutes in Hangzhou. Special sunglasses for observing the natural event are hot-selling products in recent weeks. Astrophile clubs at the Hangzhou Senior High School have organized touring lectures since last week to teach local residents how to observe the upcoming solar eclipse.

“I can’t not wait to see it,” a young woman surnamed Sun said. “Some reports said the next solar eclipse in Hangzhou would be in 300 years. My company will organize every staff to watch it and have special glasses for the solar eclipse distributed to us.”

The Hangzhou traffic department has prepared for the eclipse which will happen during morning, with rush-hour and night-emergency measures adopted that day to facilitate people commuting to work. Airports in Hangzhou will shift to the night schedule half hour in advance of the eclipse and all the street lamps will be turned on five minutes before the event.