Xi writes back to academicians and experts, encouraging more sci-tech workers to participate in science popularization

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission on Thursday wrote back to representatives of academicians and experts who have participated in the lecture tours "Science and China". In the letter, he expressed his sincere hope that sci-tech workers will support, and participate in science popularization.

In his reply letter, Xi said, "You have taken an active part in the lecture tours over many years to widely disseminate scientific knowledge and promote the spirit of science, and you have played a crucial role in promoting popularization of science."

Xi pointed out that popularizing science knowledge is a key foundation of China's innovative development. He hoped that these academicians and experts could carry forward the glorious tradition of serving the country through science and encourage more scientists and experts to support and participate in popularization of science. They are encouraged to have high-quality, rich content and appealing forms in their lectures to stimulate young people's interest in advocating science and exploring the unknown, and promote the people's science literacy, making new contributions to building high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology and promoting Chinese modernization.

With proposals by its academicians and experts including Zhou Guangzhao and Lu Yongxiang, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and other governmental departments, jointly launched the "Science and China" lecture tours in December 2002. Under the program, about 2,000 activities aiming to raise the public's science literacy have so far been held across the country. Recently, 20 representatives of academicians and experts who initiated and participated in the "Science and China" lecture tours have written a letter to President Xi Jinping, reporting the achievements they have made since the beginning of the program. They proposed to launch a campaign for a thousand academicians to host a thousand lectures on popular science. The campaign is meant to pool the collective wisdom of experts and make a greater contribution to national popularization of science, and accelerate the building of high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology.