Dear all ICHI authors and participants,


Due to several unforeseen local organization issues, we have to move ICHI 2019 from Beijing to the city of Xi'an. The conference date will remain on June 10-13. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience due to this last-minute change. The local organization team is doing their best to make the arrangement in Xi'an.

We have carefully considered all possible options and picked the city of Xi'an. Xi'an is the capital city of the 13 dynasties of ancient China. It's a culturally rich and diverse city where the underground Terracotta Army is located. It has the one of the oldest, largest, and best preserved Chinese city walls. We believe this new location can provide you a unique opportunity to experience both the modern and ancient China.

If you have already made your travel arrangement, Xi'an can be reached through a two-hour local flight from Beijing. Alternatively, you have the opportunity to experience China's high-speed railway system linking Beijing to Xi'an. The four and half hours ride is approximately 750 miles (1200 kilometers) with gorgeous scenery along the railway in the most beautiful part of central China.

If you need assistance to book an airline/train ticket between Beijing (PEK) and Xi'an (XIY), please contact us (li.jiao@imicams.ac.cn). The flight information be found at https://www.trip.com/flights/. The train information can be found at https://www.trip.com/trains/.

The new venue of ICHI 2019 is Sofitel Xian on Renmin Square Convention Center (319 Dong Xin Street, Xian 710004, Shaanxi Province, P.R. China). It is located right in the heart of city wall, within walking distance to the historic Bell and Drum Towers adjacent to modern shopping and entertainment areas.

Hotel rooms can be reserved via registration system under "Hotel Reservation". The conference rates of hotel rooms are:
4-star room: 500 RMB/night with breakfast (approximately $75/night)
4-star room (grand): 550 RMB/night with breakfast (approximately $83/night)
5-star room: 800 RMB/night with breakfast (approximately $120/night)

If you have booked the conference hotel in Beijing and need assistance to cancel the reservation, please contact us (li.jiao@imicams.ac.cn).

For those participants who have registered by May 8, please see the following refund policy:
1. If you are not able to rearrange your travel to Xian and decide to request the refund of registration fee, please send us (li.jiao@imicams.ac.cn) the request before May 22 and your registration will be fully refunded.
2. If you are an author and decide to request the refund of registration fee, the paper will also be withdrawn from the proceedings.
3. If you are an author, who decide to request the refund of registration fee but want to keep the publication in the proceedings, you will be refunded the registration fee that you have paid deducting $100.
If you have any further questions, please email us at: ichi.ieee@gmail.com

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and hope that we'll see you in ICHI 2019 in Xi'an.

Sincerely,
Zhiyong Lu and Chris Yang
General Co-Chairs, ICHI 2019