Two-hour, one-stop tour of ancient ruins in California’s San Andreas earthquake zone

SAN FRANCISCO — Two-hour and one-half-hour walks through the ruins of an ancient Chinese city are being offered for $29.95 by a group that hopes to spark interest in a potential new form of tourism in the San Andreas fault zone.

The “Eyes on the Earth” tour, which is sponsored by the Institute for the History of the San Francisco Earthquake and the San Jose Earthquake, will take place on Sept. 15, the day of the 9.0 magnitude quake that killed more than 8,000 people.

In addition to walking through the old city of Yixing, the tour will explore the ruins at San Francisco State University, the former headquarters of the Chinese imperial court and a site of ancient Chinese warfare, the group said.

More than 100 people, including architects and archaeologists, will also visit the sites in the future to view the buildings and artifacts from ancient times, said the group’s president, Eric Smith.

Smith said the $29-per-person tour, to be held at the San Diego Convention Center, is not a “walk-through” tour.

Instead, the groups is offering the tours for people to join for free and to share their stories with the public.

“We don’t want to take a bunch of tourists and tell them, ‘I know this is your place and this is the way you’re going to go to get here,’ ” Smith said.

“We’re looking to have a conversation with the people.”

The tour has been in the works for several years and is the latest in a string of initiatives to explore the fault zone and the potential for a tourism industry that’s been growing since the earthquake, which killed thousands of people.

The city of San Jose has long been a hub for international tourism and there are plans to build a $4 billion convention center at the site.