The First “Non-Government” Visiting Scholars Delegate in United States
English translation of Chinese article published in Science & Culture Review (Beijing), Vol. 7, No. 2 (2010) pp. 84-94 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ The First “Non-Government” Visiting-Scholar Delegation in the United States of America from People’s Republic of China, 1979-1981 Lui Lam Department of Physics, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192-0106, USA In February, 1979, a delegation of eight scientists from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, arrived in Evanston, and became the first group of “non-government” visiting scholars ever set foot in the USA since 1949. This group consists of Qian Yongjia (钱永嘉), LI Tiecheng (李铁成), ZHENG Jiaqi (郑家祺), SHEN Juelian (沈觉涟), WANG Dingsheng (王鼎盛), CHENG Bingying (程丙英), GU Shijie (顾世杰) and LIN Lei (林磊, Lui LAM). Lin stayed for three months while the rest of the group stayed for two years. The work by Lin at Northwestern University was later published in Physical Review Letters, the most prestige physics journal in the world, and became the first paper ever published in this journal by an author from China. Here, the background of the domestic situation in China and the international relationship between China and USA leading to the visit are summarized. The formation of this delegation of visiting scholars is described, followed by the 1979 visit itself. Lastly, the influence of the visit on the careers of the delegates afterwards and on the Chinese reform-opening up movement in general is given. Key words: Institute of Physics, Reform-Opening Up Movement, visiting scholars in USA, Baodiao Movement, Haigui, Physical Review Letters I.
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