Visa
Participants who hold passports from outside of mainland China may need to apply for a Chinese visa before travel. Please check the Chinese embassy or travel agencies in your country for more information and prepare the visa application well in advance (at least one month before your travel). Usually the F-visa (business or visiting visa, which is officially for academic visits) is required and an "Invitation Letter of Duty Authorized Unit" is needed from our university. We can also provide a normal invitation letter with our department stamp, and a proof of hotel reservation which may be needed for your travel. Please send us the following for preparation of the documents.
- Scan of your passport
- Arrival/departure date (please give 2 or 3 extra days of stay if you have not yet bought the ticket)
- A short CV (no need to include the publication list)
- Your institute address and phone number (if it is not in your CV)
- The departure city of your flight to China
- Travel route and schedule if your will visit other places in China in this trip
- The city where the visa application will be made
We will send both the scanned documents by email (which is sufficient at most Chinese embassies) and the original by courier service once they are ready. In some cases it might be possible (but not 100% gauranteed) to get the L-visa (tourist visa) without such official paperwork, and the hotel reservation is usually required.
Accommodation
All participants (unless you want to arrange your own accomodation) will be accommodated in Kehuayuan Hotel (webpage), which is the same place for the conference venue. It is located in the campus of Sichuan University. Please send us the following (which is a subset of the list above for visa letters) for the hotel reservation.
- Scan of your passport
- Arrival/departure date
- Your institute address and phone number
The following hotel address can be used for your paperwork.
- Kehuayuan Hotel, 141 Kehua North Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China
- (In Chinese) 科华苑宾馆，科华北路141号, 成都，四川610065，中国
- Phone: +86-28-85462555, 85463064
Direction and Transportation
You will arrive by air at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, or by train at Chengdu (North) or Chengdu East Railway Station. After arriving please choose from one of the following options for local transportations.
- Take a taxi. Tell the driver the destination "Kehuayuan Hotel, 141 Kehua North Road" (in Chinese: 科华苑宾馆, Ke-Hua-Yuan-Bin-Guan, 科华北路141号, Ke-Hua-Bei-Lu Yi-Si-Yi Hao). Please ask the driver for the receipt (in Chinese: 车票, Che-Piao) every time you take a taxi in Chengdu. This is helpful not only for reimbursement but also in case if you forget any item in the car (the receipt contains the license number of the driver).
- From the airport the fare will be less than 60CNY.
- From the railway station (either Chengdu or Chengdu East) the fare will be less than 30CNY.
- Take buses. You may spend less fare but much more time and effort.
- From the airport take airport special line 1 or 2 to Sichuan Provincial Gymnasium (South Section 2, First Ring Road), and change to route 504 arriving Kehuayuan Hotel (Zhanglingsi).
- From Chengdu (North) Railway Station take route 55 arriving Kehuayuan Hotel (Zhanglingsi), or take subway line 1 to Nijiaqiao, and walk 1km east along Nijiaqiao Road arriving Kehuayuan Hotel.
- From Chengdu East Railway Station take route 47 or subway line 2 to Niuwangmiao, and change to route 102 or 112 arriving Kehuayuan Hotel (Zhanglingsi).
- Once you arrive please look for the hotel with "Sabrina Restaurant" sign on its second floor. The hotel is located on a busy street (Kehua North Road) at the edge of the campus. You can get help in English from the front desk of Kehuayuan Hotel.
Name Badges
For better communication and collaboration, name badges are expected to be worn at all time during the conference. Local organizers and volunteers ware badges with distinct color, and you can find help from them. For environmental concern, you can return the badge to us for recycling at the end of the symposium if you do not need it anymore. You are also free to keep the badge yourself if you want to have it as a souvenir.
Meals
The hotel will provide breakfast. For lunch and dinner please follow our directions to the restaurant. Most meals during the conference period will be provided in the restaurant of Kehuayuan hotel (which has a good reputation in the area). Please indicate in advance to us if you are vegetarians or have special requirements for food. If you want to have your own meal, there are restaurants of different levels around the campus for you to explore. But most dining halls in the campus only accept the campus card. Please ask our volunteers for help and recommendation. There is a reception banquet on the evening of ???. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Emergency Contact
The front desk of Kehuayuan Hotel has some English-speaking workers and you can ask for help there. In case of emergency you can also call our mobiles (sent separately in emails).
