Some tourists will climb the 3,000-metre Buddhist holy mountain of Mt Emei, not far from Chengdu, to watch it.

Others will go to Mt Putuo, a hill on a small island off the coastal province of Zhejiang south of Shanghai.

But according to weather forecasts, rain and cloud could spoil the party in many of those places, including Shanghai, Hangzhou and Mt Emei.

The duration of totality will average at least five minutes for most places along the Yangtze in central and eastern coastal areas.

The eclipse in Shanghai will last roughly from 8.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., with the total eclipse starting at 9.35 a.m. (0135 GMT) and lasting nearly six minutes.

Tour operators are offering trips to Yanshan island and eclipse-watching from cruise ships off the coast of Shanghai.

The nearby city of Suzhou, famed for its ancient courtyard houses, gardens and canals, is preparing to host 100,000 Chinese tourists and 10,000 foreign tourists for the eclipse, Wu Min of the Suzhou tourism bureau told state media.

'I heard that in the coastal cities, even the school classrooms have been booked,' Li said.

US astronomer Jay Pasachoff, head of the International Astronomical Union's Solar Eclipse Working Group, arrived in China in mid-July to prepare for watching the eclipse in Zhejiang's Anji county, state media said.

A group of Spanish scientists will provide a live internet broadcast from near the inland city of Chongqing, while state broadcaster China Central Television and the Chinese Academy of Sciences will also show the eclipse live online.

Li said he understood that some leading Indian astronomers planned to watch the eclipse in China rather than in their own country.

'Why? Because the time of the eclipse is earlier in India, and the sun will be lower in India than in China, so it is not so advantageous to watch it there,' he said.

'For professionals, this is a rare chance,' Li said. 'For example, the Shanghai Observatory is right on the total-eclipse belt, so we can observe it on every waveband with all the equipment ready at hand.'

Li said many amateur eclipse-chasers planned to drive around the eclipse belt to ensure a good view.