on
Tuesday, 28 March 2006
2/F Olympic House, So Kong Po, Causeway Bay
Drinks Reception 6.30 pm; Lecture 7.30 pm We are delighted to welcome again Mr. Wong How Man, one of our most popular lecturers, to speak on his exciting recent rediscovery of a new source of the Yangtze. In 1985, How Man led a National Geographic Expedition and discovered a new source for the Yangtze. Helping him were images from the Space Shuttle, including Large Format Camera, Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIRA) and other Landsat images. In 1995 How Man led a second team, including several Chinese scientists, to map out the region. Twenty years after the original expedition, How Man reviewed more advanced higher resolution images from space, relative to those he used previously. Amazingly, these new images revealed a yet longer source near to his previous discovery. How Man led another expedition in the summer of 2005 to redefine the source of the great river, armed with these new data. With a large entourage of 25 members representing several disciplines, the team included a geographer, a biologist, an anthropologist, a NASA scientist and even a special mechanic dispatched from Land Rover in the U.K. The large team spent months on the Tibetan plateau in their fleet of Land Rovers, in an effort to improve on How Man's previous discovery. In this lecture, How Man illustrates all the excitement of the journey as well as the exceptional endeavour of locating the new source. How Man is Founder/President of the China Research & Exploration Society. As "China's most accomplished explorer", Time Magazine honoured How Man as one of their 25 Asian Heroes. In a career spanning thirty years of exploration in remote China, How Man is a veteran at the National Geographic, having led six major expeditions for the magazine. In 1986, he founded the China Exploration & Research Society, which expanded his exploration work to conservation of China's natural and cultural heritage, with a mission to conduct exploration, research, mapping, conservation and education in China's remote regions. He has authored many books and his work has been featured often on CNN, National Geographic Channel and many other media. Members and their guests are most welcome to attend this lecture, which is HK$50 for Members, $100 for Members' Guests and HK$150 for others.