2010's Top Ten Tsinghua News Stories

1. Twenty-one Tsinghua research achievements won 2009 State Science and Technology Awards, ranking first among Chinese universities. The ceremony was held January 11th in the Great Hall of the People. The 21 included two State Natural Science Awards, three State Technological Invention Awards, and sixteen State Scientific and Technological Progress Awards.

2. Nineteen faculty members were chosen in the Ministry of Education's Cheung Kong Scholars Award Plan in 2009. Among them, 14 were specially appointed and five selected as lecturers. Under the MOE s Cheung Kong Scholars Award Plan, there are currently 101 specially appointed professors and 51 lecturers at Tsinghua, and the total number of such scholars from Tsinghua ranks first among Chinese universities.

3. The American magazine Forbes recently published its list of the world's most beautiful university and college campuses. Its editors asked a panel of architects and campus designers to indicate their choices as the most appealing in the world. Fourteen universities were selected. Tsinghua is the only Asian institution in the list.

4. Tsinghua officially named ten major campus roads based on their geographical names and the classic Confucian literary work, the Da Xue.

5. The Tsinghua University Centenary Year was launched on April 25. It was also a day when the University celebrated its 99th anniversary. During the centenary year, Tsinghua will host a series of academic, social service, overseas exchange, and cultural activities and celebrations both on and off campus and overseas.

April 24, 2011 will mark the 100th anniversary of Tsinghua University and major celebrations will be held from April 22 to 24. During this three-day period, a wealth of activities will include the 2011 student sports games, the International University Presidents Summit and APRU Annual Presidents Meeting, the Centenary Ceremony of Tsinghua University, and the Centenary Celebration Gala on the evening of April 24.

6. Tsinghua has always been proud of its excellent students, and the quality of matriculants has continued to rise. For many years, the admission marks of Tsinghua in both science and the humanities and social sciences in the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) in most provinces rank first among Chinese universities.

In 2010, students who rank first in science in the NCEE in 90% of the provinces and the top-ranking students in the humanities and social sciences in nearly 30% of the provinces were admitted to Tsinghua. Supplementing the NCEE, in 2009 Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, the University of Science and Technology of China, Xi an Jiaotong University, and Nanjing University jointly administered an independent entrance examination to identify candidates with special talents.

In 2010, Renmin University of China and Zhejiang University also participated in this independent entrance examination.

7. A research group led by Professor Nieng Yan in the School of Medicine and composed mainly of three Tsinghua students, reported the crystal structure and functional mechanism of a Major Facilitator Superfamily membrane transporter in Nature. In the past year and a half, Tsinghua s Center for Structural Biology has published four papers in Nature and Science, thereby making important contributions to Chinese studies in membrane protein structural biology.

A number of undergraduate students and early stage graduate students participated in these studies. Youth has become a characteristic of studies in structural biology at Tsinghua.

8 The research and development of the low density parity check technology (LDPC) for China s second unmanned lunar probe, Chang'e-2, was successful. This is the first time such technology has been used in the field of aerospace in China. Professor Lu Jianhua, Vice Chair of Tsinghua s School of Aerospace, won the outstanding contribution award.

9. China's first extremely deep underground laboratory, the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL), was opened and put into operation at the Yalongjiang Jinping Hydropower Station in Sichuan province on December 12. This laboratory, jointly constructed by Tsinghua University and Ertan Hydropower Development Company, is located 2,400 meters below the surface and is the deepest lab in the world covered by rocks.

With the opening of the CJPL, China has a first-rate clean and low-radiation research platform and can independently carry out leading-edge basic research on dark matter and other topics.

10. The Fifth International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians, hosted by Tsinghua University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Morningside Group, opened at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on December 17. A total of over 1,000 Chinese mathematicians from all over the world gathered to share their ideas on future developments in their field.

From December 18th to 22nd, talks and lectures covering a broad spectrum of subjects in mathematical sciences were given by renowned mathematicians on the Tsinghua campus. During the opening ceremony, the audience witnessed the presentation of the Morningside Medal of Mathematics, the most prestigious award for Chinese experts in this subject.

A meeting was also held in honor of the 100th and 99th anniversaries of the births of the renowned mathematicians Hua Luogeng and Chen Xingshen, respectively.