Descriptions:

Banquet

The banquet for IASS 2010 will be hold in Shanghai classical hotel. Its original name is “Rongshun Restaurant” and was founded in the 1875. It is located in the Yuyuan Tourist Mart, which is a birthplace of Shanghai regional cooking styles. The food provided by this hotel is famous for its fine ingredient and pure taste.

Around this restaurant there is the famous shopping center where people can find typical Chinese handmade wares.

Some famous dishes are depicted here:
Eight-Treasure Duck

Eight-treasure duck, one of its special dishes, was invented by Rongshun Restaurant. There is a story behind this dish.

It is said that one day while chatting, a waiter was informed that one restaurant in North Sichan Road sold eight-treasure chickens. And this dish sold well. This waiter told it to the keeper. After discussing with the chef surnamed Huang, the keeper purchased an eight-treasure chicken as a sample. After a careful study, Mr. Huang improved cooking skills and ingrediants inside the chicken. Besides, in the dragon boat festival of this year, when he was having Zongzi (a traditional rice dumpling taken in the dragon boat festival), an idea occurred to him: the tightly-bound Zongzi wa more delicious than loosely-bound one. So he came into the kitchen, taking the bowels from the chicken by cutting its wings and filled it with eight ingrediants. As he had expected, this time the chick is more delicious than previous. To avoid being thought of stealing other restaurant’s special dish, after discussing with other chefs, they decided to use first-class force-feed duck instead of chicken, a famous special dish of Shanghai Classical Hotel--eight-treasure duck came into being.

Sea cucumber in shrimp sauce

Sea cucumber, one of the delicacies from land and sea, has long been special dish in the banquets. Special dish of Shanghai Classical Hotel--sea cucumber in shrimp sauce has enjoyed such fame that every day it is sought for by gourmets.

There are many kinds of sea cucumbers. The one Shanghai Classical Hotel chooses is featured with dark color, rich meat and large size, usually weighing 100 gram each. Every year, in July, when the shrimps appear on the market, the chefs of Shanghai Classical Hotel always choose one certain kind of shrimps and stock them because of its delicious taste.

It has long been known that the sea cucumber is tasetless. Even in a recipe collection written in Qing Dynasty, sea cucumber was cooked with chicken and meat. The chefs of Shanghai Classical Hotel learned from the past, prepared the dish with pork, chicken, shrimp, rice wine, soy sauce and sugar before they are cooked in the pot for 10 minutes. After being poured with chopped chive soup, the sea cucumber are put into a china. By this moment, the dish is good in taste, appearance and taste.
Its rich nutrition and delicious taste make it a special dish in Shanghai for more than sixty years. In recent 5 or 6 years, a restaurant in Japan always organizes one or two groups of its chefs to visit Shanghai Classical Hotel, and sea cucumber in shrimp sauce has always been their choice. One day, after taking it, a Japanese visitor gladly told others “Today, I had real Shanghai dish.”

A Special and A Famous Film Star

The traditions in Pudong, Shanghai are quite unique. For example, even in wedding banquets, the dishes served are featured with auspicious signs to seek luck.
Chicken, bamboo and ham are three important ingredients of braised chicken, bamboo and ham. After being sliced, they are piled like a hill colored red, white and gold. It is said that this dish can bring wealth to newly-married couples. 
The chefs of Shanghai Classical Hotel improved it in its appearance and taste. Actually, it has attracted many gourmets and celebrities with its nice appearance and delicious taste.
A famous film star, Ms. Bai Yang, one day, after her visit to Yu Garden, entered Shanghai Classical Hotel. When braised chicken, bamboo and ham was served, she even hesistated to take it because of its attractive look. After returning she wrote a passage, which read “ I have lived in Shanghai for years. At first I knew nothing about this special dish. Even when it was introduced by friends, I had no interest in it. One day, I took it in Shanghai Classical Hotel. Unexpectedly it left me a deep impression. The sliced chicken, bamboo and ham, which are slenderer than a match, are so nicely arranged that it was mistaken for a bun at first sight. When I put them into my mouth, the taste haunted there. From then on, I am in love with it and eager to introduce it to my friends.”
Ms. Bai Yang’s passage added to the attraction of this special dish.

More information about this Hotel can be found in http://www.laofandian.com/home-e.asp.

Technical Tour

Technical Tour is intended to take all the participants of IASS 2010 to visit the most famous and impressive public buildings in Shanghai. These buildings include Shanghai World Finical Center, Permanent structures in Expo field, Shanghai South Railway Station and Shanghai Chenshan Botanic Garden.

Descriptions:

Shanghai World Finical Center - The Shanghai World Financial Center is a supertall skyscraper in Pudong, Shanghai, China. It is a mixed use skyscraper which consists of offices, hotels, conference rooms, observation decks, and shopping malls on the ground floors. Park Hyatt Shanghai is the hotel component containing 174 rooms and suites. Occupying the 79th to the 93rd floors, it is the highest hotel in the world, surpassing the Grand Hyatt Shanghai on the 53rd to 87th floors of the neighboring Jin Mao Tower.

Permanent building in Expo field – After Expo 2010, only 5 buildings will be reserved in the expo field, which are Expo Axis, Performance Center, China Pavilion, Theme Pavilion and Expo Center.

Shanghai South Railway Station - Shanghai South Railway Station, also Shanghai South Station, is a railway station in the city of Shanghai, China. Located in the Xuhui District, its importance is second only to the Shanghai Railway Station. After extensive renovation that was finished in 2006, the station features a modern circular design, the first of its kind in the world.

Shanghai Chenshan Botanic Garden - To propose a botanical garden in one of the world's most rapidly expanding cities is of course a gesture that invokes ecological issues regarding sustainability and the conservation of plant life. The German landscape architect's planning group Valentien intend the garden that they are constructing, for Chenshan (Hill Chen) in the Song Jiang District of Shanghai (just outside the city center), to be such a gesture, as well as a model of plant conservation and scientific research development-and one of Shanghai's most ambitious landmarks. The project is enormous, and informed throughout by the architects' ecological imperatives: Energy-saving technologies are to be utilized in the garden's buildings (greenhouses, laboratories and education center) and renewable materials will be deployed throughout. The completion of Chenshan Botanic Garden is planned to coincide with the opening of EXPO 2010 in Shanghai; in the meantime, this book tracks the design process of this unique and bold landscaping project, extrapolating its conceptual infrastructure against an exploration of local conditions and expectations in Shanghai and its surrounding environs

After symposium tour
After symposium, a tourist company will arrange tourism for people who are interested in Chinese culture and landmarks in China. Further information will be available later.

Note:

1 Reception party will be taken in Jin Jiang Tower Hotel.

2 A plenary video conference with the sculptor Kenneth Snelson, the inventor of tensegrity structures, is scheduled on Tuesday Evening.  Mr. Snelson will give a lecture and answer questions from you through live video & audio.