A series of activities has been scheduled in China to celebrate the year 2000.

Wang Junjie, vice-secretary-general of the China Year 2000 Celebration Committee, unveiled the events highlighting the celebration to China Daily yesterday.

Formed in July by the State Astronomical Observation Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the committee will be responsible for all the activities which will run well into the year 2000.

The Great Hall of the People in Beijing will be the venue for a celebration on the last night of 1999 when thousands of people from all over the country will gather to greet the New Year.

People in about 1,000 major cities around the world will be praying at the same time.

"Beijing will be the center stage for celebration activities along with London, the New York, Paris and Tokyo on New Year's Eve, when audiences from all over the world share the happy moments through live television broadcasts of celebrations at these major cities," Wang said.

Meanwhile, experts from State observatories in Beijing, Shanghai, Yunnan and Shaanxi will be tracking the movement of the sun over the sky and sending real-time reports to the celebrating crowds at the Great Wall.

According to a panel of experts under the celebration committee, the Haima Beach of the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea will be the first place within the Chinese border to greet the sunlight of the year 2000 at 6:27 am.