SONY'S GIFT TO THE PEOPLE OF CHINA:
AN EXPLORATORIUM IN BEIJING

(BEIJING, China, October 20, 2000--) San Francisco's Exploratorium and the Sony Corporation have joined together in an educational partnership called Sony ExploraScience. The new educational center will open in Beijing, China, on October 20, 2000, and remain open for at least three years. Inaugurating this unusual venture at the opening in Beijing were Mr. Norio Ohga, chairman, and Mr. Nobuyuki Idei, president and CEO of Sony Corporation; the Chinese vice-ministers of the Chinese Counsel for the Promotion of International Trade (CCTIP) and the China International Economics and Technical Cooperation Consultants, Inc. (ECOTECH); and Dr. Goéry Delacôte, director of the Exploratorium. Located at the intersections of Wangfujung Street and Chang An Street, Sony ExploraScience will occupy prime retail space in the heart of the of the old and new in Beijing: the Forbidden City, Tiannanmen Square, and the equivalent of China's new Madison Avenue. Despite its ideal retail location, Sony's ExploraScience will concentrate solely on education as a gift to the youth of China.

Sony ExploraScience features thirty-five exhibits from the Exploratorium, as well as Sony's advanced digital technologies, presented in the form of Sony-developed interactive exhibits for the public. It also features temporary exhibits and a "live" space for workshops and activities for youth and their parents--both hands-on and Internet/Live Webcast based--all in 15,000 square feet (1,500 meters) of exhibition space.

Commenting on today's opening, Sony Corporation Chairman Norio Ohga said, "Sony's relationship with the Exploratorium dates back to 1987, when our two founders, the late Masaru Ibuka and the late Akio Morita, first visited this museum. Well known for their vast curiosity and strong interest in education, Mr. Ibuka and Mr. Morita were very impressed with the museum's hands-on displays, and were the driving forces behind the temporary Exploratorium exhibition in Tokyo in 1989."

"In September 1999, the Exploratorium was honored by a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan," said Exploratorium Director Goéry Delacôte. After playing with our exhibits, he said to me, ÔYes, come to Beijing.' And here we are. The educational possibilities in the People's Republic of China seem limitless. We are most pleased to join Sony Corporation as a genuine collaborative partner in the process. And we are most proud of a project that inspires young minds and young hearts to dream the infinite possibilities of the human future presented by science and technology."

At the Sony ExploraScience in Beijing, as at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, each exhibit is meant to be handled and enjoyed and to bring to life such phenomena as light, seeing, and hearing. The featured exhibits--selected from the permanent collection of more than 650 exhibits at the Exploratorium--emphasize surprise and discovery in the areas of depth perception, figure ground illusions, color vision, reflection, light, color, interference, sound, waves, and resonance.

Exploratorium History

Founded in 1969 by the late physicist Dr. Frank Oppenheimer, and under the leadership of its current director, Dr. Goéry Delacôte, the Exploratorium has achieved international acclaim among museum professionals, the scientific and educational communities, and the general public for its success in making the learning of scientific concepts an exciting and enjoyable experience, in person and online.

An earlier exhibition, The Exploratorium Exhibition China, opened to the Chinese public for a three-month show at The Museum of Chinese Revolution and History on June 28, 1994, and sponsored by a consortium of U.S., Hong Kong, and Chinese companies under the auspices of the People's Republic of China Association for Science and Technology. More than one million people visited the show daily.