Cultural and Local Sightseeing Activities in Beijing
============== Visa Application ====================
Please note that the visa application process could take more than 2 weeks.
Visa applications are NOT accepted through mail, email, Internet, or any express delivery service such as UPS, FedEx, etc. Visa applications have to be delivered by the applicant or someone else entrusted (e.g., a travel agency). You could directly apply for the visa from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC or one of the Consulates (some links are provided below).
Many international travel agencies also provide visa application assistance.
- http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/zgqz/default.htm
- http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/t84229.htm (containing a list of Consulates General)
The required invitation letter as a pdf file has been emailed to you directly from our Chinese workshop co-organizer, Dean Xiao Ma. If you have not received this letter, please let Dean Ma (huaxihe@gmail.com) and me (nosh@northwestern.edu) know as soon as possible.
========== Travel and Local Arrangements ==============
As an invited participant, all the costs (see below) connected to your trip will be covered by the NSF and the Chinese workshop hosts. More specifically,
a) Coach air travel on a US flag carrier between your U.S. base and Beijing, China, will be covered by the NSF. Please make your reservation and ticket it as early as possible as international air fare tends to move upward sharply if the reservation is made close to the travel date. After the workshop, you will be required to submit a reimbursement form with your airplane tickets and receipts.
- According to the NSF travel policy, only coach-class air travel can be reimbursed. If you decide to fly business- or first-class, NSF will be able to reimburse only a portion of the airfare equivalent to the value of a coach-class ticket.
- Despite our best effort to be accommodating and flexible, the workshop has a limited travel budget. As international airfare does fluctuate widely, we would like to ask for your cooperation and understanding to book your flight early and find reasonable-priced deals.
b) Four-night lodging at the Golden Harbor Hotel (a 4-star hotel) will be covered between March 26 -- 30. Prior to and beyond, you need to pay on your own. But under special circumstances, please contact the workshop co-chair Noshir Contractor at nosh@northwestern.edu to see whether other arrangements can be made.
Hotel website: http://www.harborhotel.com.cn/haibo/ekfjs.htm
Address: No. 136 North Road West, Fourth Ring, Haidian District, Beijing
Please do NOT contact the hotel directly.
After booking your flights, please send your hotel-night requests directly to the workshop co-chair, Dean Xiao Ma at huaxihe@gmail.com. After receiving your requests, our Chinese hosts will aggregate them, confirm with the hotel, and then confirm with you by email. We apologize for the inconvenience but our past experience indicates that this centralized approach is the most effective one when considering the complications with payments, different room rates, etc.
c) Most meals during the workshop will be covered by the conference budget. For those meals not covered, you can claim per diem rate for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner (including other travel incidentals such as local transportation). We will follow the federal government international travel guideline, which specifies the per diem rate (excluding lodging) for Beijing as USD 81/day.
