For most parts of China, thousands people will turn their eyes skyward when daylight fades as the Sun changes into blazing ring surrounded by a dim disk Friday afternoon.

The annular eclipse of the sun, which is predicted to be the longest in duration for the next 1,000 years, would cross China and be visible in some areas of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi,Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces as well as Chongqing municipality, said Cheng Zhuo, researcher of Purple Mountain Observatory of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"Many amateur astronomers have taken time off work and spent a lot on money on travel to see it," said Lin Qing, head of the Sheshan Station of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Lin is the leader of the "sun chaser group" that will view the eclipse from Dali City in southwest China's Yunnan Province, which is predicted to be the best location for observation.

"We travel across China simply to witness the magnificent astronomical phenomena," Lin said.

Lin's group is one of the hundreds swarming into Yunnan from other parts of China. Almost all hotels rooms are full in Dali.

The ant umbra enters China at 4:37 PM from Myanmar and ends at 4:59 PM in east China's Jiaodong peninsula, where a sunset eclipse will occur.

The longest duration of the eclipse in China would be 8 minutes and 17 seconds in Ruili City, Dehong Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Cheng Zhuo said.

The sunset eclipse would be seen in some areas of Shandong, Guangdong and Taiwan, and a partial eclipse would be seen in most of the rest of China, except for the northeast tip of Heilongjiang Province, Cheng said.

The annular path would begin in Africa and passes over the Indian Ocean, where the maximum duration would be 11 minutes and 8seconds. It would continue through Asia, over Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and China, Cheng said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2010)