This summer, those of us living in China have the spectacular chance to see a total eclipse of the sun, a truly rare opportunity because the moon completely covers the sun, leaving a colorful ring around it called a Corona (meaning crown). Thousands of people from the rest of Asia and all over the world will be coming to China to witness the phenomenon. If you have never seen a total solar eclipse, then this is your chance to see this China solar eclipse 2009 from several major cities. This 22nd July will be the only solar eclipse of this kind this year and remarkably, instead of the usual 200 Km spectrum of visible areas, there will be 254Km, providing a magnificent area from which to view the eclipse from Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou,Wuhan, Nanjing, Chongqing, Chengdu, Suining and Yichang. You have plenty of options to choose from if you want to go and see it yourself. The eclipse will also be visible for a full 6 minutes and 39 seconds, which is the longest visibility period of the 21st century.

This coming 22nd July, (If the weather's good) I'll put some real pics and vids of the eclipse into my blog, and live tweet from my twitter account : @lyanghsueh, welcome to follow!

Warnings: Never view the sun with the naked eye!