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embedded, but also have a strong sense of social responsibility as well as
international vision. In the trend of globalization, the universities with different cultural
backgrounds should not only have a clear command of their own cultures, but also
absorb the essence from other cultures through wide-ranging academic researches
and exchanges in an effort to promote the dissemination of different cultures and the
harmonious coexistence and common prosperity of different civilizations. At the
100th anniversary of Peking University former President Jiang Zemin remarked that
the university should serve as a bridge facilitating the exchanges of Chinese
essence and the advanced elements from other cultures. As a prestigious higher
education institution, Peking University has unshirkable responsibility to lead
researches in various disciplines and promote the cultural dissemination and
communication. Sponsoring Beijing Forum is one of the means for Peking University
to share the responsibility. This forum more than displays to the world our latest
accomplishments in academic research and higher education since in the meantime
it serves as a platform for scholars both at home and abroad to conduct direct
dialogues and discussions on major issues encountering the mankind, which is of
great significance to the development of our humanistic studies.
China boasts a time-honored tradition of loving peace and advocating civilization. As
early as over 2500 years ago, a certain ancestor of ours put forward the sagacious
concept that ―We are all brothers and sisters‖, i.e. fraternity should reign in
inter-personal relationships and being of one mind we are bound to create and enjoy
a happy life. In order to carry forward the fine traditions of the Chinese nation while
considering the common aspirations of the scholars from across the world, Peking
University scholars have sent a resounding signal of ―Harmony of Civilizations and
Prosperity for All‖ via Beijing Forum at the dawn of the 21st century.
Xu Zhihong is the President of Peking University and Academician of Chinese
Academy of Sciences. Born in October 1942 in Wuxi of Jiangsu Province, Mr. Xu
serves as a professor at the School of Life Sciences, Peking University and research
fellow at Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology of Chinese Academy of
Sciences. Professor Xu once served as Director of Chinese Society of Plant
Physiology and Chinese Society of Cell Biology, Vice Director of Chinese Botany
Society and Chinese Society of Biotechnology. Concurrently President Xu is the
Chairman of International Association of Botanical Tissue Culture and Biological
Techniques and Chinese Commission for the implementation of the UNESCO Man
and Biosphere Program.
President Xu‘s major research interests are plant developmental biology and plant
biotechnology. Between September 1959 and August 1965 he majored in botany at
the Biological Department of Peking University; upon graduation from Peking
University he was admitted into Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology
to do postgraduate and joined the faculty of the institute after he earned the master
degree; from August 1979 to September 1981 he conducted research at Nottingham
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