Lecturers from the Mars Advanced School outside the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO). Credit: ESA

The initiators of the Mars Advanced School: Agustin Chicarro (left) and Wing-Huen Ip (right) at SHAO. Credit: ESA

Group photo of all Mars School participants, including officials, organisers, lecturers and students. Credit: NAOC

Opening session for the Mars Advanced School.
Credit: NAOC

Agustin Chicarro, the European organiser of the school, took time out for an interview with Chinese media (left), before returning to lecture at the school (right).
Credit: ESA

Angelo Rossi (left) and Olivier Witasse (right) during the Introduction to PDS and ESA Data Archive session. Credit: ESA

Ji Wu delivering his lecture on the Chinese Yinghuo-1 (Firefly) mission to Mars. Credit: ESA

View of the classroom during the first day of teaching. Credit: NAOC

Wing-Huen Ip receiving an ESA award for his pioneering role in the Cassini-Huygens mission. Credit: ESA

A very busy day ending with a fantastic Chinese dinner. Credit: ESA

Angelo Rossi passionately lecturing on the endogenic (left) and exogenic (right) geological processes on Mars. Credit: ESA

Agustin Chicarro giving advice in preparation of the eclipse. Credit: ESA

Lecturer (middle) and students from Taiwan at banquet organised by Jiaxing authorities on the evening before the eclipse. Credit: ESA

The location of the school lay along the path of totality of the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century. Students and teachers took time out from lectures to observe the eclipse.

Impressive ceremony to mark the beginning of the eclipse observations. Credit: ESA

Getting ready for the eclipse before the rain started. Credit: ESA

Mars Advanced School teachers and students were ready to observe the eclipse with telescope and filter. Although the local weather did not cooperate well with rain and clouds, the totality phase lasting several minutes was a very special experience. Credit: ESA

Amateur astronomers at other locations had more luck with the weather: in Linan, Zhejiang provence (top two); in Zhenmen, Hubei provence (lower left); in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province (lower right). With kind permission of http://bbs.astron.ac.cn, Credit: users Yitaixian (top two), Cskeppr (lower left) and WxhWjf (lower right).

Veronique Dehant teaching on the interior of Mars (left) and offering Belgian chocolates to the students (right). Credit: ESA

Students hard at work during an afternoon hands-on tutorial. Credit: ESA

Xiao-Gong Hu after his lecture about the Chinese VLBI Network. Credit: NAOC

Olivier Witasse teaching about the Martian atmosphere (left) and ionosphere (right) Credit: ESA

Wing-Huen Ip lecturing on the solar wind interaction with Mars. Credit: ESA

All the Chinese and European lecturers at the Mars School. Credit: ESA

Agustin Chicarro lecturing about comparative planetology. Credit: ESA

Angelo Rossi gives a talk about impact cratering. Credit: ESA

Veronique Dehant teaching about space instrumentation. Credit: ESA

Olivier Witasse providing explanations to interested students. Credit: ESA

Jiang-Jong Jian lecturing about the Martian polar caps. Credit: ESA

Veronique Dehant (left) and Agustin Chicarro (right), who celebrated their respective birthdays during the week, are presented with special cakes. Credit: ESA

Lecturers and students together on the way to Hangzhou. Credit: ESA

Starting the visit of Hangzhou at a nice Chinese restaurant. Credit: ESA

Hangzhou Western Lake. Credit: ESA

Hangzhou traditional architecture. Credit: ESA

Scenery of the new Shanghai. Credit: ESA

An unforgettable performance at Shanghai Circus World. Credit: ESA

A very happy school organiser with waitress in Manchu dress. Credit: ESA

Farewell with Cheng-Li Huang and his family. Credit: ESA