Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday paid visits to renowned
space scientist Qian Xuesen and mathematician Wu Wenjun, extending
festival greetings and showing gratitude for their contributions to
the country's scientific cause.
Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC)
Central Committee, shook hands with 97-year-old Qian and presented
him a floral basket at the home of the scientist.
Hu said the Chinese people and the CPC would never forget the
remarkable contribution Qian had made to China's economic and
technological development and the national defence industry.
Qian, founder of China's space technology, returned to China
from overseas study shortly after the New China was founded in
1949. He overcame many difficulties and resistance that prevented
him from returning home, Hu said.
He said Qian had made remarkable contribution to China's space
industry, including the country's first nuclear and hydrogen bombs
and manmade satellite.
Qian told the president that he only encountered "appropriate
opportunities" (to make the contribution).
The president praised the senior scientist for his efforts in
fostering young and smart students, some of whom had become pillars
of the country's technological and scientific development.
Hu said he himself had greatly benefited from Qian's academic
achievement. "When I studied at the Party School of the CPC Central
Committee in the early 1980s, I learned your theories," the
president said.
During the 1980s, Qian advocated the development of sand
industry in deserts where distinctive natural conditions could be
made good use of. The scientist supported the development of the
industry by donating his own money.
Hu told the scientist he found out that the sand industry in
north China's Inner Mongolia, where deserts had become sources of
sandy winds in Spring, was prosperous during his recent trip to the
region.
"Sandy plant industry have developed well, helping to recover
the ecology and raise people's life standard," Hu said.
Qian was very happy to see the country's great change such as
the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railway.
Qian, a member of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the
Chinese Academy of Engineering, graduated from Shanghai
Communications University in 1934.
In 1935, he went to study in the aviation department of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later studied aviation
engineering at the California Institute of Technology. In 1939, he
received a doctorate in aviation and mathematics.
The president also visited Wu Wenjun, renowned Chinese
mathematician and winner of the State Scientific and Technological
Award.
Hu stressed the importance of basic sciences such as maths, as
it was "a forerunner of technological progress, source of
independent innovation and main force in propelling national
development".
"Infrastructure research should not be ignored," Wu echoed the
president.
Hu said the government should boost investment in the field and
create a sound academic environment for scientific personnel
engaging in innovation research.
The president encouraged the mathematician to put forward more
suggestions over China's technological and scientific
development.
(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2008)
