Pre-Conference City Tour - Monday: May 10, 2010 (09:00-18:00)
Includes: The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, North Square, and Shaanxi History Museum. Cost is U.S.$35 per person including transportation, entry fees, English-speaking guide, and insurance. (At least ten participants are needed.)
 Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the North Square
Located in downtown Xi’an, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, is an architectural marvel standing 60 meters high (seven stories). The square pyramid pagoda, was built with layered bricks and no mortar in 652 A.D. under the direction of Buddhist master Xuan Tang (Monk Tripitaka) of the Tang Dynasty. In 627 A.D., at the age of 28, Zhang traveled to India to study Buddhism. Seventeen years later, he returned to Chang’an with 657 volumes of Buddhist Scriptures.
The North Square, adjacent to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, is divided into nine levels. The terraced Square stretches from north to south and includes the largest fountain and waterscape square in Asia, Tang cultural sculptures, decorated archways, and gardens.
 Shaanxi History Museum
This modern museum, built in the style of the Tang Dynasty, covers an area of 70,000 m2. The architecture combines the construction styles of the ancient Chinese palaces and courtyard buildings. The collection includes highlights of Shaanxi province culture and documents development of Chinese civilization over 7,000 years. The museum collection includes 113,000 historic and cultural artifacts unearthed in Shaanxi.
Companion Tour - Tuesday: May 11, 2010 (09:00-17:30)
Includes: Mount CuiHua National Park and Southern Wutai. Cost is U.S.$45 per person including transportation, entry fees, English-speaking guide, lunch, and insurance. (At least ten participants are needed.)
 Mount CuiHua National Park
Located ~20 km from Xi’an, CuiHua Mountain is part of the Qin mountain chain, which is composed of metamorphic rock from the middle geological epoch (one billion years ago). The Mountain was formed as a result of an earthquake in three valleys in the middle of Shaanxi during the You King of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The highest peak, Zhongnan Mountain, rises 2,604 m above sea level. Well-maintained, easily traversed trails with interpretative signs in English and Chinese lead to many scenic wonders and overlooks.
Southern Wutai
Located 30 km south of Xi’an, southern Wutai is one of the most sacred Buddhist shrines. This lush and beautiful mountain consists of five peaks: Qingliang, Wenshu, Shenshen, Lingying, and Guanyin. Climbing the mountain on foot offers outstanding views. There are many streams and bridges traversing through bamboo with views of the temple resting on the mountain’s slope. Ancient edifices that can be visited include the Shengshou Temple, Shengbao Spring, ZhiZhu Temple, Guanying Dais, and Wufu Palace. It takes 20 to 30 minutes to reach the summit by car. Southern Wutai served as a resort for the emperors of several dynasties and is now part of the Zhongnanshan National Forest Park.
Evening Reception at the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IEECAS)  - Tuesday: May 11, 2010 (18:30 - 20:30)
Conference participants and their companions are invited for a reception hosted by IEECAS with refreshments, music, and laboratory tours. Bus transportation will be provided from the conference center.
Established in Xi’an through the efforts of Professors Liu Tunghseng, An Zhisheng, and others in 1999, IEECAS is an extension to the State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology (SKLLQG), CAS. IEECAS researchers study regional and global climatic and environmental changes at different time scales to better define and implement sustainable environmental practices. IEECAS is composed of four research units: 1) the Xi’an Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) center (jointly built with Xi’an Jiaotong University and supported by CAS, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Science and Technology); 2) the Paleo-Environment Division; 3) the Recent Environmental Processes Division; and 4) the Aerosol Environment Division. IEECAS employs 59 scientists and technicians of a staff of 65. There are over 50 visiting scientists, 88 graduate students, and three post-doctoral fellows. IEECAS is equipped with a 3 MV AMS, 2G-755R U-channel Superconducting Rock Magnetometers, MAT-252 and Delta plus, Laser Particle Analyzer, X-ray Diffraction, Carbon Analyzers, and TL/OSL and Lenovo 1800 Cluster computers. IEECAS cooperates with academic institutions from the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Austria, Canada, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, Korea, Russia, and Sweden, among other countries. The institute is gaining its reputation as a world-renowned center for environment research and training.
Companion Tour - Wednesday: May 12, 2010 (09:00-18:00)
Includes: Mount Huashan. Cost is U.S.$75 per person including transportation, cable car ride, entry fees, English-speaking guide, lunch, and insurance. (At least ten participants are needed.)
Mount Huashan
Located ~120 km east of Xi’an, Mt. Huashan is one of five famous mountains in China. Known for its high peaks and steep cliffs, Mt. Huashan consists of five distinct summits: Eastern, Western, Southern, Northern, and Central. The mountain peaks resemble the petals of a huge plant, with the middle peak serving as a corolla, hence the mountain’s name. The southern peak is the largest (2,100 m), followed by the eastern and western peaks. The ascent by overland cable car provides natural scenery, including the Hundred-foot Gorge, Laojun Furrow, Heavenward Ladder, and Old Dragon Ridge, and also a number of ancient buildings and stairways that are part of the mountain’s culture. The well-maintained trail to the peaks passes by temples, shrines, pavilions, terraces, carvings, statues, food stalls, and hawkers who appear interspersed with the stone-carved trail and forested hillsides. Along the Green Dragon Ridge (Bilong Ji), which connects the northern peak with the rest of the mountain, the way is cut along a narrow rock ridge with steep cliffs on either side.
Companion Tour - Thursday: May 13, 2010 (09:00-18:00)
Includes: Qianling Mausoleum, Famen Temple, and Princess Yongtai’s tomb. Cost is U.S.$65 per person including transportation, entry fees, English-speaking guide, lunch, and insurance. (At least ten participants are needed.)
Qianling Mausoleum
Located ~80 km west of Xi’an on Liangshan Hill, Qianling Mausoleum is a well-preserved and high-quality cultural site. The joint tomb of the Tang dynasty Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zeitan includes a number of historic relics including stone engravings and exquisitely carved stone statues from the Tang dynasty.
Famen Temple
Located ~120 km northwest of Xi’an, Famen Temple is a fascinating place with an intriguing history. Legend has it that in 147 A.D., King Asoka of India traveled throughout Asia, distributing Buddhist relics as atonement for his sins and warlike attitude. In China, he built Famen Temple and left the fingers of Buddha to be enshrined therein. Tang dynasty emperors revered the sacred relics and regularly walked through the streets followed by a worshipful procession. The Tang emperors offered wonderful gifts in an attempt to surpass their predecessors’ offerings. This site is still an important place of pilgrimage for today’s Buddhists.
Princess Yongtai’s Tomb
Located 2 km northeast of Qianling Mausoleum, Princess Yongtai’s tomb, now the site of the Qianling Museum, is a chief satellite tomb to Qianling. Princess Yongtai was the granddaughter of the Tang Emperor Gaozong and his wife, Empress Wu Zeitan. In 701 A.D., Princess Yongtai and her husband were slain by Empress Wu Zeitan because Yongtai spoke about the Empress’ scandalous affairs. After mounting to the throne, Zhongzong ordered his daughter and her husband be buried in Qianling.
Post-Conference Study Tour - Friday: May 14, 2010 (09:00-18:00)
 Arranged by the Conference Organizers, this study tour includes Emperor Qin's Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses and Han YangLing Museums. The cost for non-conference participants is $50 per person including transportation, museum entry fees, English-speaking guide, lunch, and insurance. A special emphasis of the tour is protection methods for cultural artifacts from environmental threats.
Terra–cotta Warriors and Horses Museum
Located 30 km east of Xi’an, Emperor Qin’s Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses Museum, “the Eighth Wonder of the World” is a world cultural heritage site. It is among the top archaeological excavations of the 20th century.
Constructed more than 2,200 years ago to protect the afterlife of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the terra-cotta army includes > 7,000 life-sized warriors, horses, chariots, and weapons. It was discovered by peasants digging a well in 1974. The original paint has worn off, and the bronze-age weapons (including swords, arrows, and lances) have eroded. The most impressive aspect of the site is the scale of the collection even though only 20% of the statues have been unearthed. The unique faces of the warriors—no two are alike—are said to be modeled after the artists who sculpted them and the Imperial Guards of the time.
Han YangLing Museum
 Located ~30 km east of Xi’an near the Xianyang airport, Han YangLing is the mausoleum and garden of Liuqi, the fourth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty. It has been dated to 2,000 years ago, a time regarded as the golden age of Imperial China. The archaeological investigation at YangLing started in 1970, but the explorations were enhanced during the 1990s when highways were built to the Xianyang airport. The museum, built in 1999, houses a large number of precious relics inside hermetically sealed enclosures.
This large-scale underground museum uses advanced technology to protect the cultural relics. The pits are encased with special glass that maintains the environment similar to what it was before excavation. Suspended glass corridors allow visitors to take a closer look at the painted pottery warriors, animals, chariots, and horses.
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