Joint General Assembly of Two Top Science Bodies Concluded
The five-day joint General Assembly of CAS and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) successfully closed in Beijing on June 7. Over 500 Members from CAS and 300 from CAE participated in the Assembly with 5 CAS Foreign Members present.

Members present discussed the role CAS and CAE will play in implementing the strategy of rejuvenating China through science and education and of sustainable development. This strategy laid a solid foundation for CAS and CAE to work out the long-term development plan during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period.

Members also carried out cordial discussions on various scientific subjects, attaching special importance to many science and technology issues as they relate to the national economy and social development, and proposing many suggestions.

CAS New Foreign Members
Ten foreign scientists have been elected to CAS as its second group of Foreign Members. They are:
Robert W. Cahn, British scientist in materials science;
A.Y. Cho, American scientist and founder of nano-science;
W.N. Christiansen, Australian physicist in radioastronomy;
C.W. Chu, American scientist of high-temperature super-conductivity;
Y.W. Kan, American scientist in medical molecular biology;
Charles K. Kao, American scientist in information science;
T.Y. Lin, American scientist in civil engineering;
H.K. Mao, American scientist in superhigh pressure physics and geophysics;
Y.R. Shen, American scientist in nonlinear optics, laser spectroscopy and condensed matter physics;
P.J. Wyllie, American scientist in experimental petrology.

Tan Kah Kee Prize Awarded
Eight scientists were awarded the 1995 Tan Kah Kee Prize for their achievements in science and technology in Beijing on June 7. They are:
Huang Kun, physicist, who won the mathematical and physical science prize;
Liang Shuquan, chemist, who won the chemical science prize;
Tang Peisong, plant physiologist, who won the life science prize;
Zhang Fusui, marine biologist, who won the agricultural science prize;
Jiang Sichang, medical scientist, who won the medical science prize;
Ye Duzheng, atmospheric physicist, who won the earth science prize;
Yang Jiachi, expert in space automation control, who won the information science prize;
Li Guohao, bridge structure and architecture engineer, who won the technological science prize.

The Tan Kah Kee Prize was set up by Tan Kah Kee Foundation to honor science and technology personnel in China who have made remarkable achievements in mathematicas and physicas, chemistry, life sciences, medical science, earthsciences, information science and technological sciences.
CAS Objectives During Ninth Five-Year Plan Period Outlined
Prof. Lu Yongxiang, Member and Vice President of CAS, outlined the objectives of CAS during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1996-2000) recently.

"Three strategic goals lie ahead for us to achieve in the coming five years. The first goal is to contribute more to the national economic growth, social development and science and technology advancement. The other two goal consist of R&D-capacity-building and personnel training," he remarked. Prof. Lu also laid emphasis on areas that merit special attention by CAS in future work. In the light of those challenges met by the country in its profound transition from a planned economy to a socialist market economy, CAS is obliged and well-positioned to contribute to technological renovation of traditional industries and sustained growth of agriculture. On the strength of CAS's reservoir of expertise and specialists, we should transfer technical know-how and provide technical personnel to the society. While maintaining our edge in basic research, CAS should also take bolder steps in creating modern and high-tech enterprises.

With regard to capacity-building at the institute level, "We need to go further in optimizing the structure," Prof. Lu said. Through such possible measures as merger and re-orientation, etc., CAS will streamline its present research force into some 80 research centers of excellence that promise to represent China at the frontier of world science. These research centers will operate along three distinct dimensions, namely, basic research, public benefit research and high-tech innovation, with 20-30 in the first category, 20-25 in the second and 30-40 in the third.

Referring to the fostering of a qualified research contingent, Prof. Lu pointed out: "While in keeping with our long-standing principle in team-building, we should endeavor to establish an innovative system of human resource management by introducing international practices and taking into account China's actual conditions. The aim is to practice contract employment system, under which 70% of important posts will be filled through competitive screening procedures and outstanding performers will enjoy long-term or even lifetime tenure. By the year 2000, short-term employees, graduate students, postdocs and visiting scholars will make up some 40% of the total research force."

CAS Achievements Reviewed
During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, CAS organized 10,000 personnel in solving a number of problems in China's economic and defense construction and social development, making contributions to high-tech transformation of traditional industries, the development of high-tech industries and the technological progress of various trades. Meanwhile, CAS scientists worked at the forefront of international science and technology. As a result, 205 key research findings have won state major awards, 3,000 research results won provincial, ministerial and Academy awards and 500 inventions received state patents. CAS also encouraged its Members and scientists to give suggestions to the central government and departments concerned and most of the recommendations have been adopted.

The intelligent English-Chinese machine translation system IMT/EC-863, Dawning-No.1 parallel processing system, the air-borne remote sensing application system, and the loess plateau comprehensive management project have all yielded good economic and social effects.

A large number of qualified personnel were trained including 480 postdocs, 4,600 Ph.D.'s and 8,200 master students.

During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, the first basic document entitled Bylaws on the Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was formulated. Through four elections, the number of Members reached 583 by December 1995, including 328 new Members and 13 Foreign Members. Many are middle-aged and young scientists.

Recently, three major accelerators-Beijing electron positron collider, Lanzhou heavy ion accelerator and Hefei synchrotron radiator-have been put into operation and opened to the public, which enhanced China's international standing in these fields. Advanced basic research equipment including a multi-channel solar telescope and Beijing free electron laser device have been successfully developed, helping to raise China's research to international levels in these fields.

During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, 8,000 scientific research personnel from 110 CAS units participated in key research assignments entrusted by the State. CAS undertook 304 special projects, accounting for 14% of the national total. Among these projects 13 were chiefly organized by CAS and 34 were partly organized by CAS. In the meantime, CAS completed several hundred other national key S&T projects, 20 application and development research projects and a number of CAS key projects as well.

CAS attaches great importance to innovation and development of high-technology, and to international competition. During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, CAS made gratifying progress in further strengthening high-tech competition, up grading high-tech renovation, spreading high-tech achievements and promoting high-tech industries. About 4,000 technological professionals from over 60 units were involved in more than 500 projects of the National High-tech Research Program ("863" Program), yielding many world-level results.

CAS has established extensive cooperative links with over 3,000 enterprises in 40 provinces, municipalities, departments and industries, and has made remarkable contributions to the technological progress and development. In 1993, about 100 CAS institutes took on over 1,000 local and industrial research and development projects. From 1991 to 1994, CAS has signed 13,500 technological contracts with various sectors of society.

High Performance ParallelComputing Fruitful
A research team hosted by the Research and Development Center for Parallel Software in the Institute of Software has developed applied software on the Dawning-1000 parallel computer and successfully completed scientific research in high performance computing on China's own distributed parallel system. Recently, the team has made outstanding achievements in theoretical computing on total electron structure of natural DNA, theoretical analysis of LBO electron state and parallel computing of generalized eigenproblem. Although Chinese scientists have accomplished unique results and won international acclaim in theoretical analysis of solid material electron state and natural biological molecular whole electron structure, some computation could only be done abroad due to the lack of a large-scale domestic computing system, which has largely restricted improvements in this area of research. Thanks to the completion of the Dawning-1000 parallel computer, scientists engaged in parallel computing and software cooperated with those engaged in quantum physics and quantum biology to develop a new plan, easily realized and put into practice on the Dawning-1000 parallel computer.

Invented by Chinese, laser crystal LBO is extensively applied to the development of high-tech crystal materials such as information and telecommunications. China has pioneered the growth and theoretical analysis of the crystals, but quantitative theoretical analysis could not be done for lack of large-scale computing facilities. It can now be accomplished on the Dawning-1000 parallel computer, which has provided a powerful means for the development of new materials and for computing theoretical research. To study the expression and control of genetic cipher in biophysics, one needs to know the regional character of DNA molecules. A cooperative team, on the basis of computing method on whole molecular electron structure, proposed and improved a large-scale computing technology on large bimolecule, which will promote China's large bimolecular structure design and medical molecule.

In addition, the team worked out IPP trp. From the segment electronic structure, useful information will be presented for the understanding of genetic information expression.

To study large scale eigenproblem on distributed parallel computers is a topic now under discussion worldwide. The team has drafted "Black Box Parallel" idea and developed some convergence theorems at the same time, which provided reliable theoretical guarantees for the accuracy of the computing results and estimated iterative times.

Tetrageneric Hybrid Wheat
The State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering of CAS Institute of Genetics has succeeded for the first time in obtaining a Tetrageneric wheat hybrid pure line which can resist many diseases, thus providing a group of new germplasms in the breeding of disease-resistant wheat.

In the 1980s, Prof. Zhang Qingqin from Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Science obtained a hybrid from Triticale and Tongbei wild oat (Avena fatua from Tongbei). The Institute of Genetics introduced his hybrid materials from early generations and after continuous selections, obtained a stable strain "(Afatua ( Triticale)-27". At the same time, the Institute introduced the hybrid "Zhong 5" from wheat and Agronpyron intermedium alloctoploid from Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Science. With "(Afatua ( Triticle)-27" as the female parent and "Zhong 5" as the male parent, the Institute carried out sexual hybridization followed by anther culture. A Tetrageneric hybrid involving Triticum, Avena Agropyron and Secale was obtained, which is a breakthrough in the breeding of disease-resistant wheat germplasms. Tested and appraised by the Institute of Plant Protection from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Science, the Tetrageneric hybrid wheat can resist leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust, powdery mildew and root rot of wheat.

Large Scale Cesium Iodide To Be Batch Exported
Alarge scale high-quality thallium-doped cesium-iodide has been developed by Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, CAS and has gone into batch production. Thallium-doped cesium iodide is a scintillation crystal material needed in high energy physics and nuclear physics to make radiation detectors. It has a high luminous radiation efficiency. Its luminous radiation wave band is within the visible range. It can be easily matched with emitting diodes, can simplify read-out systems and is easily processed.

Shanghai Institute of Ceramics contracted cooperative agreements two years ago with SLAC (USA) and KEK (Japan) to carry out research and development of large scale high-quality thallium-doped cesium iodide. The Institute has adopted new technology and produced large scale high-quality thallium-doped cesium iodide with high efficiency.

New Technology Transfer
A new technology developed by Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC) for synthesizing high-purity 2-ethyl anthraquinine was recently sold to the American FMC for 10 million Yuan. The technology transaction is by far the largest in CAS and its branches.

Before this, only Japan and BASF in Germany were able to produce 2-ethyl anthraquinone, which is the main material used in producing hydrogen peroxide solution. China used to depend mainly on imports for 2-ethyl anthranquinone. After years of experiments, the research team led by Yuan Qun, an associate research fellow from SIOC, succeeded in developing a new technology for synthesizing high-purity 2-ethyl anhraquinone and an annual production capacity of 300 tons has been achieved. After examination, some of the quality indexes of the product are higher than those of the same product from other countries.

FMC, the world's largest producer of hydrogen peroxide solution, expressed deep satisfaction with the synthesis technology after trial use.

Natural Cybernetics
Natural cybernetics is a new and developing branch of science, which investigates the self-controlling behavior of natural environment and the possible mechanism of anthropogenic controlling and develops the theories, methods and technologies of anthropogenic controlling. The development of natural cybernetics will facilitate the solution of the "environment and development" problem and lead to harmony between mankind and the environment, and the sustainable development of human society. Zeng Qingcun, Professor and Member of CAS, recently published a research paper which described in great detail several major problems in this field such as the definition of natural cybernetics and the sources of its development, the general formulation of the kernel problem and some concrete examples, the relationship and interaction of natural cybernetics with other relevant branches of science, the major characteristic features of the problems, and relevant research fields and methodology.

NEWS in Brief
*Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, CAS has successfully established a model system of nude mouse with human cancer. This system, as an ideal experimental material for basic research about tumors and anti-tumor medicine, has changed the traditional application of the animal tumor model and provided a foundation for directional screening and research on anti-tumor medicine.

* Beijing Observatory, CAS discovered 48 new H-H celestial bodies within the 11 square latitude star formation zone after the discovery of a large number of minor planets by using 60/90 mm (Shmit) telescope in Xinglong Observation Base. A H-H celestial body is a kind of half-star, half-cloud radiating nebula with a special radiating spectrum. Up to now, about 250 H-H celestial bodies have been discovered worldwide. They have been a hot topic in research about star formation and its early evolution.

*The Polar Region Science Commission ( PRSC), CAS has been set up in Beijing. Chen Yiyu, CAS Vice President, has been appointed PRSC director. Under the PRSC are six working groups: the Working Group of Polar Region and Qingzhang Plateau Atmospheric Environmental Changes and Its Effect, the Working Group of Polar Region Cryosphere and Global Change, the Working Group of the Natural Process of Polar Region Land System, the Working Group of Polar Region Marine Environmental Change and Its Effect, the Working Group of Polar Region High-tech Application and Data Management, and the Working Group for the Popularization of Polar Region Science.

*Wuhan Institute of Physics, CAS has successfully developed China's first high-altitude ( 80-110 kilometers) sodium sound fluorescent laser radar.

One Hundred Institutes of CAS Networked
Centered in Beijing and reaching 24 cities across the country, an electronic information network has recently started operation. The network connects the head office of CAS, its 12 branches and 102 research institutes. It provides them with E-mail, management information, technological information, and interconnection with the Internet.

At present, network applications that have been realized are: a management information system-the collection, transfer and retrieval of achievement information, financial information and statistical information; a multi-media E-mail system; international E-mail, a scientific data base retrieval system; a documentation and information retrieval system; a retrieval system providing news of the institutes and academies, and a multi-media news retrieval system. The networking project will emphasize the development of information sources and will keep improving and developing itself. The network will display scientific and technological achievements and become a base for communication among international academic circles.

Shanghai New Materials Research Center Established
Astate-level research center--Shanghai New Materials Research Center, was established on March 21 in Shanghai Institute of Ceramics. The first of its kind, the Center aims to merge materials science and other disciplines. It concentrates on research in materials science and engineering as well as industrial development. The Center adopts a new operating mechanism.

As an all-round cooperative project between CAS and Shanghai, the Center will use as its base the State key laboratories of materials science, open laboratories, engineering centers, and pilot plants distributed in universities and research institutes in Shanghai. Through its operation, the Center will bring about transdepartmental optimization and integration of the research contingent in materials science.

Twenty Young Scholars Selected for One Hundred Talents Program
Another twenty young scholars have been selected into CAS's 1995 One Hundred Talents Program. All doctor's degree holders, these young scholars have done top-level research work.

The average age of these scholars is 34. The youngest, Liu Xiaohong, is 29, and the oldest is 39. Among the twenty young scholars selected, nine are from abroad, accounting for 45% of the total. Chen Yong, a 38-year-old professor recruited by Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, has studied and worked in Japan for nearly 10 years and has made great achievements. Xie Jinchun, who is 33 years old, is the winner of the first Wu Jianxiong Prize for Physics in 1986. He has studied and worked in America for 9 years. His excellent work and ability have won high praise from Prof. R. N. Zare of Stanford University and from Nobel Prize Laureate Y.T. Lee. Among the twenty young scholars selected, four plan to come back from abroad.

The One Hundred Talents Program is a measure taken by CAS to step up the education and attraction of talented people and to concentrate limited resources on young talent. Since 1994, 34 scholars have been given funds under the Program.

MOTOROLA-NCIC/CAS Joint Lab Established
On March 30, 1996 the establishment of the Joint Development Laboratory for Advanced Computer and Communication Technologies ( JDL) was announced at a celebrating ceremony held at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, which was attended by senior executives from the Motorola Inc. and senior leaders from SSTC and CAS among others.

Founded in Beijing on January 1, 1996 JDL is a 50-50 joint venture between Motorola Inc. and the National Research Center for Intelligent Computing System (NCIC). Its offices are conveniently located in the Zhongguancun area, close to many of the CAS institutes and prominent universities such as Tsinghua University and Peking. NCIC is sponsored by the State "863" Hi-Tech Program, housed at the Institute of Computing Technology, and is supported by CAS and SSTC. Its research staff come mainly from CAS. The laboratory engages in joint research and development efforts on advanced computer and communication technologies based on Motorola's semiconductor architectures and the latest science achievements produced by the Chinese "863" Hi-Tech Program at NCIC and other related labs. Both sides have made investments of personnel, technologies and infrastructure so as to create a sound and high-quality environment which may give full play to talents. The main research directions of JDL are:

• Natural man-machine interface technologies;
  
• Moving image compression & voice coding technologies;
  
• Speaker-independent continuous speech recognition and fast learning technologies; and
  
• High-performance multi-media system, computer communications and network technologies.

Flora of China--
Green Volumes Rolling Off the Press
Aprogram was launched by CAS in 1989, at the suggestion of Dr. Peter H. Raven, Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, to publish collaboratively Flora of China (a condensed English version) based on Flora of Reipulicae Populicae Sinicae. In the same year, the Sino-American joint Editorial Committee on Flora of China, co-chaired by Prof. Wu Zhengyi on the Chinese side and Dr. Raven on the American side, was established, consisting of 9 Chinese and 7 American scientists. Eight working centers were set up, four in China and the other four in the United States. In 1993, Dr. David S. Ingram, Director of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, joined the Editorial Committee and the Royal Botanic Garden became the ninth working center.

Flora of China, which will be presented in 26 volumes, is designed to include the latest research achievements, to clarify and correct uncertainties and errors left in the legacy of the old generation of phytologists, and provide convenience for foreign scientists in their studies of Chinese plant taxonomy. The actual work of compilation of the corpus began in 1990. More than 100 Chinese authors are engaged and foreign co-authors are from countries in Asia, Europe and America. The two chief editors have contributed greatly to this project. CAS, SSTC and NNSFC have also provided support. Over the past six years the compilation of 8 volumes has been completed and Volumes 17 and 16 have been published. Work on all large families, for example, Ranunculaceae, Leguminosae, Rosaceae, Gramineae and Compositae has started. It is estimated that this monumental work will be completed in the year 2000 and all volumes be published before 2003. Illustrations of Flora of China is to be published in the near future. It will comprise 25 volumes, covering 50-60% species of vascular plants in China.

MPG Guest Lab in CAS
CAS and the German Max-Planck Gesellschaft (MPG) have enjoyed a good cooperative relationship for 22 years with fruitful results. Two milestones are the MPG Guest Laboratory and the young scientist groups in the CAS Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology (SICB). The Guest Lab is designed to provide German scientists with a venue for conducting academic exchange and joint research with their Chinese colleagues, and in fostering young scientists. MPG finances the purchase of advanced equipment, reagents and medicine for experimental use.

Since its establishment, the Guest Laboratory has received more than 60 scientists in some 30 groups from the MPG institutes and relevant European universities in the field of cell biology and developmental biology. To attract outstanding young scientists both at home and studying abroad, CAS and MPG decided to set up young scientist groups in SICB. It is an experiment, a new form of international cooperation.

A special committee has been established to select the group leaders, who enjoy full authority in the whole process of research work. Research funds and the required equipment are provided by MPG and CAS.

Evaluating the progress, achievements and management of the first young scientist group the committee regards its work as excellent. One of their papers, titled Delta Opioid Receptor in Neuronal Cells Undergoes Acute and Homologous Desensitization has been published in BBIC. Another article, entitled Analgesic Effects of Interleukin 2: Structural and Functional Basis, has been accepted by Nature and will soon be published. Based on the success of the first junior scientist group, MPG and CAS have decided to set up the second group soon.

CTC -- Promoting Technology Transfer
from China to North America
CAS and the City College of New York (CCNY) signed a memorandum of understanding in May, 1996, which aims at encouraging Chinese technology transfer towards the North American market. CCNY has registered an independent corporation--China-America Technology Corporation Inc.(CTC) in the State of New York to implement this project. Prof. Ngee-Pong Chang, Program Officer of the Sino-US Project in CCNY, is Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

CTC publishes a bimonthly titled China Tech Listing. Any enterprise interested in some technology may have a 'second look' at details of that technology via CTC. The final negotiation will be undertaken between the inventor and the enterprise.

120-odd research institutes are affiliated with CAS, with abundant intellectual and technological resources. China Tech Listing serves as a new bridge whereby the inventions and technologies from CAS and universities and colleges in China will find their way into the international market. It constitutes a fresh move to implement CAS's strategy of "One Academy with Two Operational Mechanisms".

Two issues of China Tech Listing have been published to several thousand corporations in North America. Dozens of project descriptions from CAS are included, which account for two-thirds of the total projects published. These projects are from 15 institutes. It is reported that some projects have aroused interest among US entrepreneurs.

ICIMOD Training Program for MRE in China
The International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), which is located in Kathmandu and has had friendly cooperative relations with CAS, has recently established a program of Mountain Risk Engineering (MRE) Training activities financed by the European Commission. The program consists of three major project areas -- China, Nepal and India. In consultation with Prof. Sun Honglie, Board Member of ICIMOD, CAS has appointed its Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment to implement the program in China for a duration of two years, beginning on Oct. 31, 1995. ICIMOD provides 300,000 US dollars for the program. The specific objectives are to promote awareness about MRE among policy-maker s, senior government officials and development organizations; to support decentralized on-job training for junior professionals including farmers and village laborers; to support the introduction of MRE curricula in academic institutions; and to disseminate MRE information generated throughout the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region.
The first on-job training course has been held in the selected site of Ya'an City, Sichuan Province, and 16 trainees from different counties of the province attended. Further activities are being planned.

Scientific Brains of Contemporary
China Now Available
CAS and UNESCO Beijing Office have jointly compiled and published Scientific Brains of Contemporary China, the first directory of eminent scientists of the Academy in various fields of fundamental and engineering sciences. It is a selection from the UNESCO/CAS database of scientists which is being continuously updated.

The publication features the profiles of 112 outstanding scientists, their backgrounds, research fields and achievements. It is hoped the directory will bring China's scientific community closer to their colleagues in other countries. The Directory could be valuable to government officials, educationa l and research institutions as well as development agencies seeking contacts for cooperation with China.

NEWS in Brief
* Sino-French Joint Lab. on Informatics, Automation and Applied Mathematics is to be launched in the Institute of Automation in Beijing. The Lab, which will be financed by Institut National de la Recherche en Informatigue et Automatique (INRIA) and CAS on a 50-50 basis, will carry out fundamental as well as technological innovation research in collaboration with the industries.

* Prof. Lu Yongxiang, Vice President of CAS visited Waseda University and Hiroshima University late January, 1996. Cooperative agreements were signed and matters of co-operation discussed.

* IBM donated 1 million US dollars (in kind) to CAS Institute of Software for research and development of "object-oriented technology". The memorandum of understanding for the donation was signed January 10, 1996.

* A CAS Delegation headed by Prof. Cheng Erjin, Director-General of the Bureau of International Cooperation visited the Vietnam National Center for Science and Technology (VNCST) in early March, 1996.

* A CAS Delegation headed by Prof. Chen Yiyu, Vice President of CAS visited the American National Academies of Science and of Engineering in mid-March. The Delegation met with and conferred certificates on Foreign Members of CAS.

* The COSPAR Colloquium on Magnetosphere Research with Advanced Techniques, co-sponsored by CAS, COSPAR and the National Natural Science Foundation, was held in Beijing April 15-19, 1996.

* Prof. Zhou Guangzhao, President of CAS, participated in the 1996 Annual Meeting of Qiu Shi Science and Technologies Foundation in Hong Kong and attended the Inauguration Ceremony of China Association (Hong Kong) for Science and Technology in mid-May.

* The Sino-Japanese Symposium on Coal Chemistry, sponsored by CAS and the Coal Utilization Committee of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, was held at Mount Huangshan on May 12-18, 1996.

* The News Conference and Users' Congress for Power PC was jointly held by Apple, IBM, Motorola, CAS and the Ministry of Electronics at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on June 17th. At the gathering the establishment of the Power PC Users Association (under the China Computer Users Association) was announced. Remarkable headway has been made by AIM and NCIC in producing Power PC in recent years.

* The Morningside Center of Mathematics jointly financed by CAS and the Morningside Group, HK was inaugurated and the foundation laid for the Morningside Mathematics Building in Beijing on June 10. Prof. Xu Zhihong, Vice President of CAS is President of the Board, Mr. Ronnie Chan and Mr. Gerald Chan from the Morningside Group are Honorary Presidents and the noted mathematician Prof. S.T. Yau is Director of the Center. The Center aims at promoting China's fundamental and applied research on mathematics, bringing up talented young mathematicians and strengthening international exchange in the field.