The 2011 Annual Conference of the Geographical Society of China Held in Urumqi

On July 24, 2011, the 2011 Annual Conference of the Geographical Society of China was held in Urumqi, sponsored by Geographical Society of China, and mainly hosted by Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). More than one thousand scholars, researchers, and students engaged in discussions on geography, resources and environmental science, while attending the semicentennial celebration of the founding of XIEG. The attendees came from CAS, Peking University, Nanjing University, Hong Kong University, and the University of Cologne in Germany, the University of Waterloo in Canada, the International Geographical Union, the Association of American Geographers and other research institutions in the world.

After the opening plenary, LIU Yanhua, professor at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of CAS, Alexander B. Murphy, former chairman of the Association of American Geographers, and CAI Yunlong, professor of Beijing University, presented lectures on the “Geographical Problems in Global Change”, “New Trends in International Human and Economic Geography Science”, and “Ideas and Methods in Geography”, respectively.

On July 25, 2011, the experts and scholars from around the world discussed the development of geography as a science, land systems and their sustainable development, the regional response to climate change, environmental change and civilized evolution, the hydrological-ecological processes and water resources in arid and semiarid areas, the urbanization and new opportunities in western China, etc. in concurrent sessions of the conference. The annual conference also issued awards to the persons as the 11th National Youth Geographic Science and Technology workers, and to the outstanding teaches as the 6th National high school Geography Education.

　　　　　　 Opening plenary of the 2011 annual conference of the Geographical Society of China