Presentation

China will host international men's Beach Volleyball for the first time when the stars of the Swatch-FIVB Men’s World Tour arrive to partake in the US$180,000 China Open in May.

Following a late change of venue for the China Women's Open from Maoming to Lianyungang in 2003 due to the SARS epidemic, Beach Volleyball in the popular coastal town was a huge success and it is now ready to host the Swatch-FIVB World Tour for only the second time.

All the big names from around the world will be attending as teams continue on their march towards one of the 24 Olympic vacancies (the China Open is the third of 10 World Tour tournaments where players can collect Olympic Games qualification points) but they can be excused for not having their minds quite on the job when competition kicks off on May 19.

The coastal town of over four million people is steeped in history and will provide a wonderful platter of historic facts and sites for everyone to indulge in on top of the wonderful spectacle of the Beach Volleyball World Tour stop in mid-August.

Lianyunguang lies in the inner coast of the west Pacific Ocean and is famous for being listed in 1988 as one of the first 14 coastal cities to be opened to the outside world by the China government. It is also a rising centre of industry, foreign trade and tourism in east China.

Situated on the 7.75km island of Lian, the ancient but also young city of Lianyungang boasts a unique mixture of scenery, sea and mountains on land formed 1.6 billon years ago and saw human activity as early as 100,000 years ago. Lianyungang is an important tourist city with beautiful surroundings including the Huaguo Mountain park, charming beach, waterfall and hot springs in Donghai, the ancient Haizhou Town and forest park. It has been referred to as a city just like a pearl, surrounded by blue sea and green mountains. Precious for development, it is proving to be a hot place for tourism and investment with a warm welcome provided for people from home and abroad. Lianyungang is mysterious today and glorious tomorrow.

Lian Island itself is nicknamed as the Oriental Hawaii for its crystal-blue sea and natural quality beach lido-Dashawan Beach. This August, Beach Volleyball players from many corners of the world will meet at Dashawan Beach to partake in the hottest summer game on a wonderful stage, which will provide a great reward for both sport and history buffs, who make the journey to Lianyungang.