A rather belated blog. While we were in Beijing we had the additional excitement of watching an eclipse of the sun. It was an annular eclipse which means that at totality a ring of the sun can be seen around the shadow. We were just outside the totality area, but it was still quite a sight. Basically the moon appeared to eat a chunk out of the sun and as it was close to sunset we were able to look at it with care. The spectacle lasted about 20 minutes until sundown. We stood in the entrance of a shopping mall in Wangfujing to watch it. Knowing there was going to be an eclipse we had spotted this site as one of the few spots in central Beijing, apart from Tiananmen Square which would afford a view. We could also watch it safely in the reflection of the doors of the shopping centre. As it progressed we were more and more surrounded by excited Chinese watching the spectacle. The attached picture was taken on Michael's phone as we forgot our cameras.