We visit another Academy of Sciences Institute in Kunming, the Observatory Institute. The students that worked there invited us there for a dinner. When we got there we discovered they had scheduled us to lecture to the scientists. Here Bernice and I pose with three of the scientists that are also our language students in Chengdu. Being an important astronomical observation base in the south of China, the Yunnan Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is situated at Fenghuangshan (Phoenix) Hill with an elevation of about 2,000 meters.

The observatory was established in 1972. Its predecessor was the Mount Zijin Observatory's Working Station at Kunming. At present, it is devoted to the research of solar physics, star and galaxy physics, celestial mechanics, astrometry and the development of new techniques in astronomy. It is in possession of many large-size, advanced instruments and sets of equipment, such as 1-meter caliber, 25 -meter caliber radio telescope, VAX 8350 computer, etc. The observatory has accomplished a large number of the state's scientific research projects.