There is a syndicated story (Chicago Tribune News Service) in today's newspaper about the 'millenium' as celebrated in China. It is accompanied by an AP photo of the Century Altar in Beijing, which looks like an enormous horizontal sundial (really enormous, maybe 30 meters across the base.. I can't find a photo of this monument at the AP site or elsewhere. Does anyone know if this is a sundial?
A web search brought up this page, but the image is just of a construction site: http://www.beijing.gov.cn/english/project/project3.htm There is a note in 'China News Digest' of 14 Nov., again no real clue: (3) Bronze-Plated Pathway Meanders Into New Millennium [CND, 11/14/99] The China Century Monument, an altar marking the new millennium, is being built in the Yuyuantan Park in the City of Beijing, the China Daily reported on Saturday. The altar features an elevated pathway, 262-meter in length, and paved with 262 bronze plates inscribed with a 180,000-character text that covers major events in 5,000 years of Chinese history. The path is also covered with a thin layer of water, about five millimeters thick. Visitors can walk through the stream to reach the altar. Their own reflections through the water can give them a sense of immersion into the history, according to ZHAO Meng, the project's art director. The inscribed plates have a designed life expectancy of 3,000 years, according the project director. The last plate will be left blank for future events. (XU Ming Yang, WU Yiyi) ======== _______________________________________ Peter Abrahams [EMAIL PROTECTED]
