Beijing, Y2K

    When the Fall 1999 semester at URI ended, I badly needed a break and a change of scene. I decided to get those things and escape from all the Y2K hysteria by spending the New Year in Beijing, It made for an unusual holiday, to say the least, because China didn't quite know how to handle this New Year's celebration. On the one hand, they don't make much of the western New Year because their Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, comes a few weeks later. That's when everybody all over China packs up and goes home for a few days. On the other hand, this New Year welcomed a new century and a new millennium, so that was more activity than normal in the capital. To this was added some lingering signs of  a nascent western-style Christmas, complete with lights, decorations, and Santas scattered over Beijing. The ambiguous feelings about both Christmas and Near Year's made for an interesting time indeed.
    I visited the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences in Beijing and a Tibetan graduate student-friend, Zhuoga, whom Kelly and I had met at the Nanjing Institute of Meteorology the previous summer. I made new friends at the academy, gave talks on atmospheric chemistry and scientific writing, and experienced two or three snowfalls. I also visited my friends at Beijing Normal University. All in all, I had a great time. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

General
    Dinner with Guoshun and students
    Tiananmen Square on New Year's eve
    A Walk Down Main Street
    Dinner in Roast Duck Heaven

The Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences
    Visitors
    A Talk on Semiannual Cycles
    Scenes Around CAMS
    Scenes around CAMS-2
    Class on Scientific Writing
    Zhuoga and Xiaohua

Beijing Normal University in the snow
    Walking across campus
    Viewing the sampling equipment
    The ICP laboratory
    The X-ray fluorescence facility

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