Eclipse from the clouds

    Airlines also scheduled special flights to allow passengers an above-the-clouds glimpse of the solar eclipse.

    China Southern Airlines offered 80 special flights.

    One passenger who identified himself only by his surname, Liu, said at Chengdu Shuangliu Airport that he was unable to book a seat on a Chengdu-Shanghai flight that day.

    "Tickets were sold out weeks ago," he said

    A quick search of taobao.com, an Internet auction site that has been called "China's eBay", showed more than 2,000 eclipse-related items for sale.

    They included telescopes, solar eclipse sunglasses, special camera lenses and other items ranging in price from a few yuan to more than 100 yuan. Many were listed as "sold out".

    Taobao.com reported that in just one week preceding the solar eclipse, 30,000 items were sold for more than 1.5 million yuan.

    Zhu Tong, a taobao.com merchant, said he earned 8,000 yuan in two weeks by selling eclipse-related trinkets.

    (Source: chinadaily.com.cn)