Astronomers have calculated that the town of Shitang in east China's Zhejiang Province will be the first place on the Chinese mainland to see the first sunlight rays of dawn of the new millennium, though the small coastal town is located nearly four degrees west of Usu Town, the easternmost point on the mainland, in the northernmost Heilongjiang Province.

Shitang Town is located at 121 degrees, 36 minutes east longitude, and 28 degrees, 15 minutes north latitude, and Usu Town is at 135 degrees, 5 minutes east longitude, 48 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude.

Though Shitang is located west of Usu it will enter the year 2000 earlier because of its geographic position and atmospheric refraction, said Wang Junjie, an associate researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The first place in the world to see the sun every new year varies, and the calculation of this spot involves many complicated astronomical and geographical factors, Wang noted.

So the National Astronomical Observatories of the CAS have organized a team of experts and researchers employing high-tech methods to determine the exact time for the sun will rise on this new year in several hundred places in China.

As a result, scientists have calculated that the Haima Islet in the Nansha Archipelago, which is located at 117 degrees 40 minutes east longitude, and 10 degrees 43 minutes north latitude, will be the first site on Chinese sovereign territory to enter the new millennium.

In the eastern hemisphere, two places located at the same latitude, the one which is closer to 180 degrees east longitude will see the sunlight earlier than the other, while, in the northern hemisphere, of two spots located at the same longitude, the one which is closer to the equator will see the sunlight earlier than the other, explained Zhao Fuyuan, deputy director of the Committee of Science and Technology Popularization under the Chinese Astronomical Society.

As the orbit of the Earth around the sun is affected by a galaxy of factors, the exact first place on the Chinese mainland to see the first rays of sunlight on January 1, 2001 will be slightly different from January 1, 2000, but it will still be close to Shitang Town in Zhejiang Province.