SUBJECT:  CHINA TRIP OFFER EXTENDED FOR SUMMER 2003!

OVER 130 UCSD faculty, staff and students are already going to China this summer as Ambassadors of Peace to attend the Silk Road to the Future Ceremony on the GREAT WALL OF CHINA. As a result of the overwhelming response, the Legends of China Foundation (the trip's sponsor) has opened a second faculty and staff trip segment from July 8 - 18 (Beijing + four South China cities including Shanghai, Hong Zhou, Suzhou and Zhoushuang, as well as continuing to offer a shorter Beijing-only trip for the same purpose. The Longer Trip will cost $1641 while the shorter trip is $1048. Round-trip airfare, all meals, excellent hotel accommodations, ground transportation, guides, and historic event tours are included. Each traveler's trip is largely subsidized by the Legends of China Foundation.

For the third consecutive summer, UCSD students, staff and faculty are invited to visit China as Ambassadors of Peace. Some 240 UCSD participants have already participated in this event during 2001 and 2002. The Silk Road to the Future, sponsored by the Legends of China Foundation, is an incredible opportunity to see China along with other staff and faculty from across the UC System. Walk on the Great Wall of China and visit the Forbidden City, Tianmen Square, the Temple of Heavenly Peace and the Summer Palace (as well as four other Chinese cities if you choose the longer trip version). Spouses or children attending other U.S. colleges are welcome. The central event is the Silk Road to the Future Opening Ceremony at the Great Wall where 500 students from major Chinese universities join with 500 U.S. university students, staff and faculty to celebrate the growing good relationship between our two nations. All participating students are required to produce a work of art upon a 1.0 x .5-meter panel of white silk (provided by the Legends of China). Staff may produce such an artwork if they so choose. All silk panels from the initial trip in 2001, through the concluding trip in 2008, will be sewn together into a mile-long banner to be carried into the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by U.S. and Chinese students. You'll love this trip and find it a wonderful bargain. As so many UCSD staff and faculty have taken part in the past two years, you may well know someone who has gone. Just ask them about their adventure.

Deadline for application has been extended to April 15, 2003, but as so many faculty, staff and students are signing up (participation is on a FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED basis and space is limited), the more rapidly you are able to make a decision, the better the chances are that trip slots will still be available as a total of only 500 U.S. university representatives are invited to attend. FACULTY AND STAFF must apply through the UCSD campus trip coordinator, Loren Thompson. Application forms and more information are available at: 534-3544, lthompson@ucsd.edu . STUDENTS must sign up through the UCSD International Center and should do so through the International Center's Student Website, i.e., http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/icenter/pao/LOCWeb/

For more information, visit the Legends of China Website, http://www.legendsofchina.com.

                                                Loren C. Thompson
                                                Assistant Vice Chancellor