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Crowds flock to partial solar eclipse in Nanning

By Zhu Yanting (China Daily Guangxi Bureau)
Updated: 2009-07-23 18:26

A tiny playground in Binhu Primary School was crowded with hundreds of people from all around Nanning, capital city of Guangxi, to witness the partial solar eclipse on Wednesday.

"Today is a work day. It's unexpected that so many people would join the event," said Yu Guihua, president of the Nanning Association for Science and Technology (NAFT).

The event—the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century—was visible in cities along the Yangtze River in China, including Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which could also see a partial eclipse.

The NAFT chose Binhu School as one of the viewing sites in Nanning to involve people, especially children, around the city in the event. "We are trying our best to popularize the event," said Yu.

The long-awaited eclipse began at 8:10 a.m. and reached its peak—a 78 percent maximum eclipse—at around 9:15 a.m.

A large number of people, including many students, witnessed the celestial spectacle amid partly cloudy skies across the city.

"It's awesome," said 13-year-old Chen Banglin as he peered skywards with special eclipse glasses he made himself. "I never thought I would see a solar eclipse in my hometown." As an eclipse enthusiast, Chen had been preparing for days, making solar viewing goggles with soldering lugs with his mother's help. In the crowd stood a white-haired woman demonstrating the solar viewing goggles to her five-year-old granddaughter. "I'm 67 years old. I'm lucky this once-in-a-lifetime eclipse is happening in my life time," said the woman, surnamed Gan.

Total solar eclipses occur when the moon comes between the earth and the sun, completely obscuring the sun. Scientists said it will be the longest eclipse until the year 2132.

Though the eclipse was only visible in Nanning as a partial solar eclipse, people still had tremendous enthusiasm. "I'm grateful that more and more people in China are paying attention to the cultivation of children's interest in science, not just their performance in exams," said Liu Yongchao, an engineer in his 40s, who took a day off for the historic event.

Liu once saw a solar eclipse by using a basin when he was 10-years-old. Few people cared about astronomical phenomena like this at that time, said Liu. "The change [in interest] shows that we Chinese are making progress."