The demonstration races will highlight this new technology and promote environmental protection with solar cars developed by the Beijing-based Tsinghua University and the University of Missouri-Rolla and Principia College from the United States.

The races will take place in the four cities successively from August 3 to 12.

The University of Missouri-Rolla will bring their Solar Miner III, the leading champion in the Formula Sun Grand Prix, an annual US solar car tournament that was held in May.

Principia College, which won fourth place in the Formula Sun, will also bring their winning car.

With its satellite-quality solar cells and materials used on aircraft, Tsinghua will be bringing their 600,000-yuan (US$72,467) student-designed streamlined solar vehicle to the race.

For most Chinese, these futuristic vehicles have only been seen on television, even though Tsinghua had developed its first solar car in 1996.

"This will be an exciting event for China's car industry," said Fu Yuwu, vice-president of the China Society of Automobile Engineering who is organizing the race.

Fu said it will be a chance for the country to learn more about the development of solar car technology, which will be a big focus in the future of the world car industry.

Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Hebei University of Technology and Tsinghua will respectively host the race and relative seminars.

The American IT company Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and Chinese car giant Shanghai Automotive Industry Co are the event's sponsors.

(China Daily July 10, 2002)