Announcement

The First Circular

Dear Colleagues,

          On behalf of the Organizing Committee of the Conference of the Asian Society of Arachnology (ASA) and the Arachnological Society of China (ASC), we are pleased to invite you and accompanying persons to participate in the 4th Conference of ASA, which will be held on the campus of Southwest University, Beibei, Chongqing, China, on October 9th –13th, 2017.

          The ASA conferences are annual meeting of Asian and international arachnologists who are working on Asian and other regional arachnids. We particularly welcome participation by students and academia members from all fields of arachnological research, such as taxonomy and systematics, evolutionary biology, behaviour, ecology, biogeography, physiology, developmental biology, molecular biology, conservation biology, and many others.

Venue

          Chongqing (CQ) is an international municipality, located in Southwest China, in the intersection of Yangtze and Jialing Rivers, with mountainous landform, subtropical climate, traditional local food and beautiful scenery. Beibei is one of dozens of districts of CQ, about 30 km from the city center. Southwest University (SWU, www.swu.edu.cn) is a key comprehensive national-level university with a large, picturesque campus and a long history dating from 1906. The conference venue, the Guiyuan Hotel, is located on the campus of SWU. For more information on the venue, please visit (www.spiderofchina.com\conference) next month.

Conference format

          Representatives will be checked-in on October 9th and a welcome banquet will be given in the evening. Talks and mid-meeting excursions will be arranged on the following four days. The excursions will take us to the Jinyun Mountain Scenic Spot and a day trip to one of other tourist attractions nearby on 12th. Attendees should plan to depart on October 14th (Saturday).

Scientific program

          The Organizing Committee is very delighted to announce that four distinguished arachnologists will offer plenary talks: Prof. Jonathan A. Coddington (Smithsonian Institution, USA), Prof. Charles E. Griswold (California Academy of Science, USA), Prof. Mark Harvey (Western Australian Museum, Australia) and Prof. Daiqin Li (National University of Singapore). Some keynote talks are still soliciting. The program will of course include sessions of contributed talks and posters, which will enable all delegates to present their work and to have the opportunity to discuss the most recent developments in their research fields. Any more suggestions, comments or ideas, please send email to Zhisheng Zhang (zhangzs327@qq.com).

          The Chinese Arachnological journal “Acta Arachnologica Sinica” will devote a special issue to the proceedings of the conference —- the 2nd issue of Vol. 26 (2017). We encourage you to publish your plenary, oral and poster presentations in this special issue.

Registration and Costs

          Online registration will be opened around early March, 2017 (www.spiderofchina.com\conference). The registration fee (excluding the accommodation fee) will be CNY ¥1,500 for non-student attendees and CNY ¥1,000 for students before 31 May, 2017, or CNY ¥1,700 and CNY ¥1,200 before 31 August, 2017, or CNY ¥1,900 and CNY ¥1,400 CNY after 1 September, 2017. We encourage foreign colleagues to register or pre-register as early as possible, so that you can have enough time to apply for visas to travel to China.

Transportation

By Air: You can take flights to Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG), catch the airport bus (from the airport to Beibei), get off at the 2nd Gate (South Gate) of SWU, and then transfer to Campus Sight-seeing Bus to the Guiyuan Hotel. You can also get off at the 1st Gate (North Gate), walk to the Tianjiabing Educational Building, and then catch the Campus Sight-seeing Bus to Guiyuan Hotel.

By Train: After you arrive in the Chongqingbei Railway Station, then catch the Bus 558 (from Longtousi to Beibei) and get off on the 2nd or 1st Gate of SWU. From the train station, the urban railway system (CRT) is another choice (a little more timeconsuming than buses). You can take the No. 3 Line from Chongqingbei Station (Yudong direction), transfer to No. 6 Line (Beibei direction) on Hongqihegou Station, get off on Tiansheng Station, and walk to 2nd Gate of SWU.

          Of course, you can take taxi from the airport or railway station to Guiyuan Hotel (or the 5th Gate of Southwest University, Beibei), much more expensive than bus and CRT.

Contact: Zhisheng Zhang (On behalf of the Organizing Committee)

Emails: zhangzs327@gmail.com; zhangzs327@qq.com WeChat: spiderzhang123

Jie Liu (Secretary of the Arachnological Society of China)

Email: sparassidae@aliyun.com WeChat: Sparassidae

WeChat group for this conference: The Fourth Conference of ASA

We look forward to seeing you in Southwest University, Chongqing, China