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Page updated on 15/07/03 17:08 BST                        [News presented with latest at top of page]

• June 2003.  HSBC are to hold an event "Cultural Awareness in Business, Coventry - Jinan Exchange 2003" on the 15th July 2003. (By invitation)

• 1st May 2003.  It is announced that the 'return' visit due to commence on 9th July has been cancelled.

• 30th April 2003. (To be confirmed) In view of the SARS outbreak it is likely that the 'return' visit due to commence on 9th July is to be cancelled or postponed.

• 11th February 2003. Provisional dates for the 'return' trip announced - Jinan students to Coventry - arrival 9th July 2003, departure 18th July.

• 31st July 2002. A new greetings message received - from Jinan.

• 30th July. The journal has been updated. It now includes a section (Fri 26th July) authored by the group leader. More greetings messages  have been posted too. (Including one about a 'get together')

• 29th July. Your web author may not be fully up to date with all the news as he has been away for a long weekend in Northumberland. However we do know that greetings messages continue to arrive. 

• 26th July 23:00BST. The coach arrived in Coventry at about 22:00BST
  26th July 19:05BST. Air France report that the flight arrived in Heathrow at 18H36. This means that they are running about 30mins behind schedule. There have also been reports of traffic problems near Heathrow but whether or not they have been resolved is not clear. If anyone reading this has up to date information that could be published on the web site perhaps you would be willing to phone  -- --- --- --- with an update.
  26th July 17:30BST. Air France report that the flight from Paris left Charles De Gaulle at 18H15, estimated time of arrival at Heathrow : 18H18.
  26th July 13:30BST.  Air France report that the flight from Beijing arrived at Paris - Charles De Gaulle at 14:00 local (13:00BST)
  06:00BST Air France report that the flight for Paris - Charles De Gaulle left Beijing at 09H49 local time (02:49BST). Expected arrival time 14H04 local time (13:04BST).
  Having contacted the coach company we are now advised that the estimated time of arrival in Coventry is 21:00 approx. (See itinerary). This assumes that the flight arrives on time, and airport formalities are completed with no undue delay.

• 25th July. Yesterday saw the journal arrive and some updating of the site. No new news today. We assume that the group have travelled to Beijing as planned and at the time of writing (19:00BST - [sorry it's late today]) the group should be getting their beauty sleep ready for tomorrow's journey. We'll attempt to keep the latest news up to date regarding travel but I'm not sure I'll be awake at their planned take off time! Travel plans / times are as in the itinerary. 

• 24th July. Email received from the group leader with a journal attached. Please see the journal page. A greeting message has been posted. Web site news - the about Jinan page has been updated - if anyone can provide or suggest an appropriate digital picture for the page (similar to the 'panorama' of Coventry on the home page) we would be happy to receive it. Please send any picture or suggestion to the web author, webauthor@coventry-jinan.org.uk.

• 23rd July. We hope that the saying 'no news is good news' still remains true! (Nothing new from Jinan so far today). 

• 22nd July. Email received from the group leader. Includes attached photographs. Photos with links placed on the journal pages. Greeting messages continue to be posted

• 21st July - We hope that the saying 'no news is good news' remains true! (Nothing new from Jinan today)    Web site news - some site statistics available - a significant percentage of the 'browsers' used by visitors to the site are set to use a Chinese character set. A 'picture gallery' based on the Year 2000 visit has been made available. It is hoped that pictures are being carefully taken as the current visit progresses! Greetings continue to arrive and page revamped.

• 20th July - The group continue to enjoy their stay very much. Email received confirming that the visit is following the itinerary quite closely - staying with families this weekend.

• 19th July - The group arrived safely in Jinan yesterday after a train journey of approximately 4 hours. They walked a short section of the Great Wall. (The contents of an email 'relayed' to us from Jinan has been posted on the greetings page.)
  We have also received a phone call from Jinan to say that the group has had an extremely enjoyable stay so far and that the hotel is very good. They have met their counterparts and are looking forward to the weekend ahead.

• No more news today (18th). We assume that the group travelled to Jinan as planned.

• No new news so far today (17th) from Beijing. As at the time of writing this its about 03:15am in China we don't expect any further news until tomorrow at the earliest. If the planned itinerary is being followed the group should travel to Jinan tomorrow (18th). Greetings messages continue to arrive.

• We have received a call from David Fry ((11:30BST , 18:30in Beijing) 16/7/2002). He confirms the safe arrival of the group. The group has visited the Forbidden City and Tian Anmen square. "They're tired but are being looked after very well." said David.

• At the time of writing (16/07/02 10:30 BST) no more information has been received since flight arrival was confirmed by Air France.

• Announced at 02:00am BST - Air France report that the flight arrived in Beijing at 07H32 local, 00:32 BST.

• Air France report that the flight for Beijing left Paris - Charles De Gaulle at 16:06local time (15:06British Summer Time). Expected arrival time 07:38 (Tues 16th) local time (00:38 Tues 16th British Summer Time)

    Greetings Notice Board now available (Introduced Monday 15th July)

• Air France report that the flight from Heathrow arrived in Charles De Gaulle at 11H42. See the journal for more information.

• The group arrived arrived at Heathrow at approximately 05:40 - in plenty of time to check in for the next stage of the journey. See the journal for more information.

• The group departed promptly - at just after 04:00, Mon 15th July. See the journal for more information.

• Announcement at 21:50 Sunday 14th - situation unchanged today. I plan to be at Elm Bank before 04:00am tomorrow, Mon 15th July.  (If you're traveling don't forget your passport!!)

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• Announcement at 14:30 Sunday 14th - no further change to the travel arrangements at the time of writing. i.e. coach leaving Elm Bank at 4:00am Monday 15th as previously advised on Friday - see itinerary for full details.
  

• Modified travel arrangements announced on Thursday 11th July. 
  

• **Further modification to departure time announced on Friday 12th July**
  Please see the itinerary for details of coach departure /flight departure times.
          On the afternoon of Friday 12th July we were informed that the previously advised flight from London Heathrow to Paris has been cancelled. Therefore an earlier flight has been booked. This flight, No 1171Y, departs from Heathrow at 09:15 with check in at 07:15. To ensure arrival before this time the coach is now booked to leave Elm Bank at 04:00am Mon 15th July. All other flight times etc. remain unchanged at the time  of writing this web page i.e. Fri 12th July 17:30. (See itinerary for details) However please check this page and the itinerary page over the weekend as every effort will be made to keep them up to date if there are any further developments.
  

• Jinan visit featured in the Coventry Evening Telegraph of Saturday 13th July (page13).
  

• Sat 13th July - Journal section of the web site readied for development.
  

• ***All members of the group are reminded that it is vital to remember to bring their passport.***
  

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Page updated on 15/07/03 17:08 BST

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