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The 4th General Assembly

The 4th General Assembly of CAS Members convened from May 11 to 20, 1981 in Beijing. A total of 332 CASAD Members participated in the meeting (68 were absent with leave). Also present at the opening ceremony were State leaders Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Ziyang, Peng Zhen, Deng Yinchao, Wang Zhen, Wei Guoqing, Fang Yi, Wang Renzhong, Bo Yibo and Lu Dingyi. They held cordial talks with members of the CAS Presidium and had a group photo taken with all participants. Leaders of government departments were invited to take part at the meeting, including those from the departments of organization and publicity under the CPC Central Committee, the State Planning Commission, the State S&T Commission, the State Commission of S&T and Industry for National Defense, the Ministry of Education, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chinese Association for Science and Technology, the Bureau of S&T Cadres under the State Council and the CPC Committee of Beijing Municipality.
 
The opening ceremony was presided over by Executive Chairman of the Assembly Li Chang, and the opening speech was made by Yan Jici.
 
The meeting’s agenda included: hearing and deliberating the CAS work report, formulating the CAS Constitution, hearing and examining the CASAD work report, electing the CAS presidium. The presidium elected its president and vice presidents. Each academic division elected its standing committee members, who voted for the director and vice director of the division. Each division also held its own business meeting and various academic activities.
 
CAS President Fang Yi delivered a report on CAS work, reviewing the general situation at the Academy since the fall of the Gang of Four and elaborating the properties and roles of CASAD. The report stressed that the General Assembly of CAS had became the supreme decision-making body of the Academy, which was a key measure of the institutional reform at the CAS and a concrete specific embodiment and organizational guarantee of the State’s policy of reliance on scientists. CASAD should strive to play a bigger role in China’s socio-economic development. First of all, Fang explained, this meant that CAS should achieve more research results and make more contributions to China’s economic growth. Secondly, CAS was demanded to serve as an advisory body on S&T development. Thirdly, CASAD Members were urged to play a critical role in the integration between S&T and socio-economic development and in the popularization of scientific expertise and common knowledge.
 
CAS Vice President Zhou Peiyuan made a report on the Draft of the CAS Constitution. Hua Luogeng, Lu Jiaxi, Bei Shizhang, Yin Zhanxun and Li Xun delivered reports for the five divisions of mathematics and physics, chemistry, biology, earth sciences, and technological sciences, respectively. The conference approved CAS work report delivered by Fang Yi and the “Tentative Regulations of CAS.?The new CAS Presidium was also elected.
 
While the assembly was in session, all the CASAD Members present at the meeting was invited to go to the headquarters of the central government to have  discussions with State  leaders, including Hu Yaobang, Wan Li, Fang Yi, Gu Mu, Song Renqiong, Yao Yilin and Peng Chong. In his speech, Hu Yaobang said that the election of the new leading organ at the assembly was a landmark event in the history of Chinese S&T development. After a brief introduction of the national situation, he elaborated two expectations of the central authorities on scientists: first, seeking R&D topics from the production practice, and secondly, working as the masters of their own research work. Song Renqiong emphasized the importance of starting the scientific education among children, saying this was the very foundation of S&T endeavors. Yao Yilin expressed his wishes that the departments of economic planning join hands with scientists so as to lay a solid scientific foundation for the planning work. The Executive Chairman of the CAS Presidium Yan Jici also delivered a speech at the meeting.
 

The Assembly convened in a situation featuring political stability, national unity and a robust economic growth under the guideline of readjustment, reform, rectification and upgrade. This was the first round of the restored CASAD activity since the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976 and its successful convention was accompanied with the participation of a newly elected group of 283 CASAD Members. As a monumental event in the CAS history, the conference was not only an unprecedented reunion but also of extra-ordinary significance for the future development of CAS.