Focus on 2011 SU

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Six cities entered bids for the 26th Summer Universiade in 2011, which are Shenzhen(China), Edmonton (Canada), Poznan (Poland), Kazan (Russia), Murcia (Spain), and Kaohsiung (Taiwan).

Vote for the city in favor of winning the bid in high capacity!!

Shenzhen, located in the Guangdong Province in South-China, is known as an international garden city. Along its 230 km coastline, there are attractive beaches, the most popular seaside swimming areas of China, a national nature reserve of mangroves and a national wetland reserve.

The city is the most open special economic zone in China and has the largest number of ports in China and the only city with land, sea and airports. It is the world's fourth largest container port. Shenzhen is an important high-tech, logistics and financial centre in Southeast Asia. It is the third largest city of China, after Beijing and Shanghai.

Shenzhen also ranks among the top cities in China in terms of the number of people engaged in sports. It also stands out as a city with splendid achievements in sports. Since the establishment of Shenzhen as a city, 133 major domestic and international sporting events were hosted.

This is Shenzhen's first time to bid for a FISU event.

Quated from: FISU website.

[ 本帖最后由 joe824 于 2006-6-30 10:20 编辑 ]

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Edmonton, Canada

Edmonton is the capital city of Alberta and is well known for its scenic river valley and a thriving music and art community. Located 294 km (183 mi) north of Calgary, Edmonton is home to North America's largest shopping and entertainment complex, West Edmonton Mall. More than just a shopping centre, West Edmonton Mall also has a giant water park, a man-made lake, a skating rink, two mini-golf courses, 21 movie theatres, a Vegas-style casino and an amusement park with 25 rides and attractions. Edmonton's vibrant population tends to hang out and let loose at the trendy Whyte Avenue district, which is situated next to the reputable University of Alberta. The Muttart Conservatory, an expansive horticultural spectacle, is noted for its unique architecture, as is the remarkable Alberta Legislature Building. Fort Edmonton Park is a large living history museum that recognizes Edmonton's past through a series of interactive restorations. Also visit the past at Edmonton's Klondike Days, an exciting festival held annually in July.

[ 本帖最后由 joe824 于 2006-6-30 10:34 编辑 ]

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Poznan, Poland

Poznan and Gniezno (50 km away) were the first Polish capitals. Both cities are connected by the tourist trail known as the Piast Route, along which we can bear witness to the distant past of the region, e.g. Lake Lednica with the remains of a settlement dating from the 9th and 10th centuries, where, according to the legend, the first Polish King to be crowned, Boleslaw The Brave, was born...
The tombs of Boleslaw and his father, Duke Mieszko, are situated in the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Poznan. The first cathedral was romanesque in style but nowadays this imposing building's outline and walls are gothic.

Apart from the cathedral, the most precious building in Poznan is the 16th century renaissance Town Hall in the Old Square. It is surrounded by old merchant houses which were carefully restored after World War II.

The Poznan International Fair (MTP), situated in the city centre, is the biggest centre of international trade in Poland, where trade fairs, exhibitions and shows take place. The MTP calendar includes over 25 specialised events each year and attracts thousands of manufacturers, trading companies, scientific and research institutions from all the continents of the world.

Poznan is the capital of the so-called "bread-basket" of the Polish state. It is the home of the only Agricultural Horticultural Exchange of this kind in Poland, a joint Poznan-Swiss initiative. The Swiss maintain that flowers, fruit and vegetables are traded "just as in Zurich". On the other hand, the Poznan Exchange, which matches western standards, specialises in cereals, meat and fertilisers.

Poznan is home to the world-famous boys' and men's male voice choirs, and the Polish Theatre of Dance - Poznan Ballet, the only one of its kind in Poland. Music lovers regularly come to Poznan for the Contemporary Music Festivals and for the Henryk Wieniawski violin and violin making competitions, held every five years here in Poznan. The Philharmonic Orchestra, the Opera, the theatres... a great number of museums, among which is the Museum of Musical Instruments, which has one of the richest collections in Europe.

[ 本帖最后由 joe824 于 2006-6-30 10:31 编辑 ]

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Kazan, Russia

Kazan is a city with a colorful, violent, complicated, rich history. Relations between the city and Russia, its gigantic neighbor to the north, were volatile for centuries, as Tatar troops invaded Russian lands and Russian armies (both temporal and spiritual) tried to take Tatar land and convert its Islamic population to Russian Orthodoxy. The attitude of the Russian rulers to the Tatars was varied: in the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible tried to forcibly convert the Tatars; in the mid-18th century, Empress Elizabeth decreed that all Tatar mosques in the city be destroyed, leading to the razing of more than 400 mosques; and in the late 18th century, Catherine the Great allowed new building of mosques. Some mosques dating from this period still stand in the city.

One of the most famous and venerated Orthodox icons in Russian history is closely tied to the city of Kazan. When volunteer fighters went from Kazan to help liberate Moscow from Polish troops in 1612, they carried with them an icon called Our Lady of Kazan. The subsequent victory in Moscow was widely attributed to the mystical powers of this icon, and two grand churches were built -- one in Moscow, and one on St. Petersburg's Nevsky Prospect -- in honor of the icon.

Kazan has also long been known as a center of intellectual and revolutionary activity in Russia. Famous students at the city's renowned University of Kazan have included Lev Tolstoy, Lenin, and Karakozov, a 19th-century revolutionary who attempted to assisinate Tsar Alexander II. Also, the great opera singer Fyodor Chalyapin was born here.

[ 本帖最后由 joe824 于 2006-6-30 10:27 编辑 ]

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Murcia, Spain

Murcia is characterized by its old history of commerce and agriculture. Already its original inhabitants, Iberian tribes, established commercial relations with Phoenicians and Greeks. Lateron it became first a Carthaginean colony, then a Roman colony. (Carthago Nova, today's Cartagena still reminds of that fact). The Moors established effective and modern agricultural production, which still today is an important economic factor, thanks to their advanced technologies.

Of major touristical interest is of course the Mediterranean coast, Costa Calida ("the warm coast"), with beaches of fine sand. The salt-water lagoon Mar Menor and La Manga del Mar Menor offer great possibilities for water sports. The inland is almost desertic, and you may visit several towns which still preserve their medieval structures.

Typical cooking includes stews, salads, roasted meat, rice, and of course great sea-food along the coast. Murcia also produces wine of high quality.


The Cities

Murcia
The capital of the region, located inland.

Cartagena
The above mentioned Carthaginean Cartago Nova is of great historical importance, specially evident if you visit its museums. It also has the region's most important port.

[ 本帖最后由 joe824 于 2006-6-30 10:25 编辑 ]

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Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Kaohsiung is a metropolis city on the rise. It is the second largest city of Chinese Taipei, located in the south-western coast of the island. Approximately 1.5 million people live within its city limits covering an area of 153.6 square km. Its topography is long and narrow, with mountainous areas in the north and a river flowing through its centre. Due to its location south of the Tropic of Cancer, the weather in Kaohsiung is warm and comfortable all year round. Average temperatures range between 18.6 and 28.7 C°; average humidity is between 60 and 81% and average rainfall is 113 cm.

The city boasts the biggest port of Chinese Taipei, but also the 6th largest container terminal in the world. Having an international port, Kaohsiung is naturally strong in heavy industries. Fuel and shipbuilding plants, steel factories, fertilizer and paper making companies form the city's industrial basis.

Kaohsiung has entered a Universiade bid before: for 2003 and 2007, but was not elected at that time. In 2009 the city will host the World Games.

[ 本帖最后由 joe824 于 2006-6-30 10:22 编辑 ]