Recently, the China Alliance for Scientific Literacy (CASL) held a symposium to discuss how to implement the Opinions on Strengthening Science Popularization Work in the New Era (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”) which was jointly issued by the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the General Office of the State Council.

The CASL holds a symposium to discuss how to implement the Opinions on Strengthening Science Popularization Work in the New Era

Meng Qinghai, full-time vice president and executive secretary of the Secretariat of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), and executive vice president of the CASL, attended the symposium and delivered a speech.

Gao Song, vice president of CAST, president of Sun Yat-sen University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chen Zhongyue, deputy secretary of the leading Party members group and president of the China United Network Communication Group Co., Ltd. (China Unicom) and other representatives of the member units of the CASL including the COFCO Corporation, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd., (COMAC), the China Energy Engineering Group Co., Ltd., Xinhuanet, the Chinese Physical Society (CPS), Peking University, the National Museum of China, the Institute of Physics of the CAS, and Tencent group, and invited observer units of the CASL including the China Capital Investment Group (CCIG), and ZGC Group, participated in the symposium in a hybrid form of online and on spot.

Meng Qinghai noted that the issuance of the Opinions has ushered in new opportunities to develop the science popularization work in China.

The Opinions follows the important instructions of President Xi Jinping to place science popularization in the same important position as sci-tech innovation, the fundamental principle for science popularization work, and provides an important institutional guarantee for future development of the science popularization in China, added Meng.

Meng said that great changes have taken place in the connotation, concept, means and mechanism of science popularization in the New Era, adding that the Opinions require all social sectors to take their shared responsibilities to popularize science, especially those which are member units of the CASL.

While noting the member units of the CASL include enterprises, media platforms, academic societies, universities, scientific research and cultural institutions which are willing to popularize science and enhance scientific literacy of Chinese citizens, Meng hoped all these member units to make  concerted efforts to complement each other’s advantages and share popular science resources to foster a socialized mobilization mechanism for science popularization.

Meng concluded that the member units should give full play to the role of sci-tech innovation in boosting science popularization, and in reverse science popularization promoting the commercialization of sci-tech achievements, thus bringing forth a coordinated pattern to mobilize all social forces to popularize science.

Also present at the symposium were relevant heads of the Department of Science Popularization of CAST, Children and Youth Science Center (CYSC) of CAST, and Rural Special Technology Service Center of CAST.

Tag: China Alliance for Scientific Literacy, Science Communication