¡¡Chinese President Jiang Zemin Wednesday morning visited the Greenwich Observatory and the Millennium Dome in London as part of his state visit to Britain.

¡¡Jiang and his wife Wang Yeping first visited the Greenwich Observatory in southeastern London overlooking the Thames River.

¡¡Lord Derry Irvine, lord high chancellor of Britain's upper house, accompanied the Chinese president to the world-famous observatory.

¡¡The zero degree meridian, an imaginary line dividing east from west, passes through the grounds of the Observatory, and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) serves as the basis of the International Time Zone System.

¡¡Later, the Chinese president visited the Millennium Dome, the centerpiece of Britain's millennium celebration. The construction of the dome is expected to cost 758 million pounds (about 1.17 billion US dollars). The symbolic structure, adjacent to the Greenwich Observatory, is scheduled to open to the public on January 1, 2000.

¡¡Around the central area of the Millennium Dome will be 14 exhibition zones dealing with such themes as work, rest, play and education of mankind in the future.

¡¡Later on, Jiang attended a reception celebrating the 70th anniversary of the London Branch of the Bank of China. There, he met with Britain's Financial Services Authority Chairman Howard Davies and other celebrities of the financial circle.

¡¡Jiang arrived in London Monday evening on the first state visit by a Chinese head of state to Britain.