Vice-President of China visits

IMPERIAL Colleges Chinese students met their mentor when his Excellency Mr Hu Jintao, Vice-President of the Peoples Republic of China, chatted to them during a special visit on 30 October.

His Excellency speaks informally to a group of students about College life

Amid loud clamour from admirers who greeted the party as it arrived at Queens Gate, his Excellencys visit began with an introduction to the College by rector, Sir Richard Sykes, and was followed by a tour of the Sir Alexander Fleming Building.

The party met Professor Mike Hassell, principal of the faculty of life sciences, and Dr Yike Guo, technical director of the IC parallel computing centre, before touring sixth floor laboratories where they learned about malaria research from Professor Bob Sinden and magnetic resonance imaging from Dr Elaine Holmes.

Unable to resist cheers of support and waves from students outside the front of the Fleming Building, his Excellency spoke informally to a group of students about College life.

He returned to 170 Queens Gate to greet more Chinese students and researchers and receive engraved glasses from Ms Xiaoyin Xu, Chair of the Chinese Scholars and Students Association.

Dr Guo and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang, director of Royal Society/Wolfson Medical Imaging Laboratory, department of computing, gave introductions to their work.

During the last 20 years, the academic status of Chinese scholars has increasingly been recognised, said Professor Guang-Zhong Yang.

There are currently 18 full professors in UK universities, 80 readers and senior lecturers, and more than 150 lecturers. Most take leading roles in academic research and many are engaged in cutting-edge interdisciplinary research.

With the increasing prosperity of Chinese economy, these scholars will play an important part in cementing future Sino-British links, both academically and commercially.

His Excellency commented that those studying abroad are viewed as the precious wealth of a country which is striving to create favourable conditions and a good environment for those who return after studying abroad. He hoped Imperials scholars would continue to study hard and make constant progress. At present, the College has in excess of 400 Chinese students and more than 10 Chinese teachers.

Sir Anthony Galsworthy, the British Ambassador travelling with His Excellency, added: I think this visit is extremely important as the relationship between the Chinese and Imperial College is a deep and long standing one.

Huge numbers of Chinese study at the College and an increasing body who studied in the UK hold prominent positions in China, which suggests a great deal of promise in the relationship between the two. We regard Imperial as a very impressive institution indeed.

*** © Imperial College 2001. This article originally appeared in IC Reporter, the staff newspaper of Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. Please contact the editor Tanya Reed (Email: icreporter@imperial.ac.uk, Telephone: +44 20 7594 6697) for permission to re-use any or all parts of this article.***