It's been over three years since the official launch of english.cast.org.cn. Thanks to the care and under the leadership of the secretariat of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), our website has become an important channel through which our friends in the science community of all countries get to know about CAST as well as the Chinese science community.    

With a view to better reflecting the philosophy of our website, we have made some adjustments to the structure of the webpage in the hope of presenting a brand new look to our friends.

Then the question is: What is the founding philosophy of english.cast.org.cn? To summarize with a single sentence, it is to construct a bridge to facilitate the understanding and friendship between the Chinese science community and that of the rest of the world.

In the two-plus decades following the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, few people in the world knew about China, even much less about the science community there due to historical and political reasons. Starting from the early 1970s when China gradually opened itself to the outside world, particularly since 1978 when China adopted the opening up policy on an extensive scale, the exchanges and cooperation between China and the rest of the world in the field of science and technology have been ever deepening, making China an increasingly active member of the international science community.   

In spite of the fact that the interflows between China and the outside world have become rather frequent over the past 30-plus years, the understanding of China by the science communities of the rest of the world is still quite limited. As observed by a friend, "China is so big that up to now our knowledge of this country is like the blind men's perception of the elephant as described in an Indian tale."
As the largest non-governmental organization in the Chinese science community, the China Association for Science and Technology has the duty to facilitate the in-depth understanding between the Chinese science community and that of the rest of the world; and, based on this understanding, to promote their friendly cooperation.

As part of this endeavor, english.cast.org.cn intends to tell our international friends who are interested in knowing about the Chinese science community: What are the people there doing? And what are their concerns?

Through our website, we also wish to provide our friends with a dynamic picture of CAST, so that they can have a complete understanding of this largest non-governmental scientific organization in China.

Needless to say, it is far from enough to merely rely on our website in order to gain a complete understanding of the Chinese science community. Nevertheless, if we could serve as a bridge that leads to the understanding of China and its science community by our friends in all corners of the world, and could make our due contribution to solidifying the friendly cooperative relationship between CAST and science and technological organizations all over the world, it would be our great pleasure and pride.  

In this spirit and through "Contact Us", we sincerely invite netizens of all countries to let us know what issues you wish to know, as well as to make your comments, suggestions and even criticism.

Editorial Board of english.cast.org.cn