Editor's Note
On the occasion of celebrating the centenary of the Communist Party of China, embarking on a new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, and marching toward the second centenary goal, the China Association for Science and Technology network opened a column entitled "Centennial Society Walking with the Party" to select 9 national societies with a century-old history to show the growth process of the centennial society in supporting the party, loving the party, being loyal to the party, and following the party, and recording their original mission of persisting in handing over science to the people and using science to practice it as the original mission of Chinese the people and seeking rejuvenation for the Chinese nation.
On September 28, 1909, Zhang Xiangwen and the geographer Bai Yukun walked to the Hebei First Mongolian Nursing Home in Tianjin, behind them were the famous educator Zhang Boling and more than a hundred other people. A group of intellectuals who love geography gathered on the banks of the Haihe River, which turned the waves and rolled over, and opened the first page of the history of the difficult and tortuous and brilliant development of the Chinese Geographical Society.
Patriotism is the first of geography, and nation-building is the foundation of geography. For more than a hundred years, generation after generation of members of the Chinese Geographical Society have measured the motherland's thousands of rivers and mountains with their footsteps, leaving a deep footprint of scientific and humanistic exploration on the vast land of China; for more than a hundred years, they have used sweat to write their loyalty to the party and the people, whether in the years of awakening in the stormy and rainy days, the restart era of a hundred wastes to be revived, the passionate spring of reform, or the new era of courageous progress, always breathing with the party and the motherland and fighting with the times.
The age of awakening promotes progressive ideas
In 1909, the Geological Society of China was established in Tianjin
As early as the eve of the Xinhai Revolution, under the influence of modern Western academic thought and democratic revolutionary thought, a group of progressive geographers in northern China, headed by Mr. Zhang Xiangwen, advocated geographical investigation and popularization of geographical science knowledge in line with the patriotic purpose, and initiated the establishment of the predecessor of the Chinese Geographical Society, the Geological Society of China, in Tianjin in 1909, with Zhang Xiangwen as the president. The following year, the Geological Society founded China's first geographical academic journal, the Journal of Geoscience. The establishment of the Geological Society of China and the establishment of the Journal of Geoscience marked the beginning of the development of the study of geography to modern geography.
Journal of Geoscience, the earliest academic journal of geography in China
At that time, China was in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the Chinese Geological Society took the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation as its own responsibility, and made positive contributions in defending Chinese culture, defending the independence and dignity of the Chinese nation, opposing imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, propagating progressive ideas, and participating in revolutionary activities.
Bai Yayu, one of the founders of the Chinese Geological Society and the first editorial director, was a teacher of history at the Beiyang Political Science and Law School in Tianjin at that time, and his revolutionary ideas had an important impact on Li Dazhao when he was a student. In October 1911, the Xinhai Revolution broke out. In January 1912, Bai Yayu, together with other members of the League, led the Luanzhou New Army to declare an uprising. However, the uprising failed miserably, and Bai Yayu was arrested and sacrificed heroically. In 1913, President Zhang Xiangwen, who was then a member of the House of Representatives, was required to return the site of the society and stop the subsidy for the activities of the society because he refused to be co-opted by Yuan Shikai and resisted his theft of power.
Until the death of Mr. Zhang Xiangwen in 1933, the Geological Society of China has been the core force to promote the development of geography and even earth science in China. In addition to carrying out academic exchanges and science popularization activities, the Geological Society of China actively propagated progressive ideas, followed the revolutionary forces, and participated in revolutionary activities; accepted the government's entrustment to carry out decision-making consultation and research; promoted the construction of geography education and teaching materials, established the prototype of early geography education in China, and greatly promoted the teaching and research of geography. In addition, from 1917 to 1919, the Geological Society of China initiated the compilation of the "Geography of Greater China", and completed the geographical records of A provinces and B counties.
The period of enlightenment lays the foundation of the discipline
In the 1920s, China's modern and modern geological pioneers Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao, Zhu Kezhen three mr. have returned from studying in Europe and the United States, Zhu Kezhen in 1921 in Southeast University founded China's first geological department, began to cultivate geographical science professionals, since then the China Geographical Research Center from the north to the south, the three gentlemen and Li Siguang, Zhang Qiyun, Hu Huanyong, Huang Guozhang and other predecessors in 1934 jointly initiated the establishment of the Chinese Geographical Society in Nanjing, and founded a high-level academic journal The Journal of Geography laid the foundation of the discipline of Chinese geography and marked the vigorous development of modern Chinese geography.
One of the longest-running academic journals, Acta Geographica Sinica
During this period, the Chinese Geographical Society and its leaders united the national geographers and let the academic peers have their own homes; held an annual academic meeting every year, and in the year of the change of the society, they also held a member congress to change the board of directors; edited and published the "Geographical Journal"; promoted international exchanges and established international exchange channels; and promoted the construction of geography teaching and scientific research institutions. On the eve of the founding of New China, the founder of the society, Zhu Kezhen, stood firmly by the side of the Chinese Communist Party and participated in the construction of new China, and later he served as the chairman of the Chinese Geographical Society for 21 years. At the same time, Shi Yafeng, one of the important members of the Chinese Geographical Society and later also served as the chairman of the society, as an underground member of the Communist Party of China, actively provided scientific information and intelligence to the organization on the eve of the founding of New China, and played an important role in the establishment of New China. He also protected data and retained personnel, laying the foundation for the later establishment of the Institute of Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Walk with the party on tasks with disciplines
After the founding of New China, China's geographical science undertakings entered a brand-new stage of development. In 1950, the Geological Society of China and the Geographical Society of China merged in Beijing to form a new Geographical Society of China, which began to shoulder the responsibility of guiding and organizing geographical workers throughout the country, as well as promoting the discipline construction of modern Chinese geography and the development of scientific undertakings.
The merged Geographical Society of China held its first congress
The newly established People's Republic of China is in dire need of scientific and technological support. In 1953, at the first congress of the Geographical Society of China, it put forward the task of improving the level of geographical science in connection with the country's economic construction. It calls on geographers throughout the country to actively participate in the investigation and research of all aspects of the natural economy and the preparation of geographical materials necessary for the economic construction and cultural education of the motherland, and has embarked on a road of development of tasks and disciplines.
In August 1954, the Geographical Society of China held its first national symposium in Beijing, where Zhu Kezhen presided over the discussion of China's natural regionalization and China's economic zoning, and then held several meetings to promote China's natural regionalization. In November 1963, the Geographical Society of China held the Third National Member Congress and the Comprehensive Annual Conference on Supporting Agriculture in Hangzhou, and Zhu Kezhen, chairman of the board, put forward the goal of geography serving agriculture, and then organized many agricultural regional planning seminars. The division and demonstration of China's natural regional divisions and China's agricultural regional divisions played an important role in the construction and development of New China in the first 30 years. At the same time, the Society has made important progress in the construction of regional branches and the construction of professional branches, which has consolidated the organizational foundation of the Society.
The party's care inspires the development of the cause
After the reform and opening up, academic groups have gradually resumed their activities. From the end of 1979 to the beginning of 1980, the Geographical Society of China held the Fourth National Member Congress and Comprehensive Academic Annual Conference in Guangzhou. This is a large gathering of the national geographical circles in 16 years after the Third National Members' Congress held in Hangzhou in 1963, with more than 300 representatives attending the meeting and more than 900 papers exchanged. During the meeting, Xi Zhongxun, first secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial CPC Committee, Yang Shangkun, second secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, and other principal leaders of the provincial party committee and provincial government visited the meeting and took a group photo with all the deputies. This meeting is a milestone in the history of the Chinese Geographical Society, which not only reflects the concern and support of the party and the government for geographical workers. It also opened a new journey for the development of Chinese geography in the new era of reform and opening up, and also put forward an important initiative for the comprehensive revival of Chinese cultural geography.
The Geographical Society of China held a centennial celebration
2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Geographical Society. In order to further promote the development of the Society, the Council of the Society has formulated a new development goal, that is, to align itself with the world-class society, take the road of international development, and extensively carry out scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation. While doing a good job in multilateral and bilateral academic exchanges, we should strengthen the construction of international academic journals, international reward planning, and strive to initiate and organize major international scientific and technological programs, enhance their international influence, and rank among the world's first-class societies.
In order to achieve this goal, on the one hand, the Chinese Geographical Society has focused on building an international exchange and cooperation system. Actively participate in the activities of important international organizations, participate in the governance of international organizations, and build a regional international exchange platform. At the 4th Asian Geography Congress in 2018, the Geographical Society of China initiated the establishment of the Asian Geographical Society. Bilateral cooperation mechanisms have been widely established, and memorandums of cooperation and substantive activities have been signed with 8 national geographical societies.
On the other hand, the Geographical Society of China has focused on building a platform for academic conferences and academic journals. In the past ten years, the Chinese Geographical Society has organized Chinese geographers to participate in previous international geographical conferences and regional conferences, and the international geographical academic exchange platform led by China includes the China-Japan-Korea International Symposium on Geography and the Asian Geography Congress, and the first World Geographic Congress is being prepared for in 2021.
In terms of the construction of academic journal clusters, the Geographical Society of China has established a phalanx of scientific and technological journals composed of 20 kinds of scientific and technological journals sponsored by itself, and on this basis, it has established a national geographical resource journal cluster. In the construction of academic journals, we pay attention to innovation and internationalization.
In addition, the Geographical Society of China has also focused on promoting the construction of the membership system and external publicity. The system will gradually be internationalized, and geographers and people from all walks of life who will make important contributions to the development of world geography and the construction of the Chinese Geographical Society will develop into members or honorary members.
Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, with the strong support of the China Association for Science and Technology and relevant departments and units, the Geographical Society of China has adhered to the principle of taking members as the main body, academic exchanges as the main line, serving national construction and promoting the development of disciplines as the purpose, carried out a lot of work, and made outstanding achievements in serving the major national strategies, promoting the development of disciplines, promoting the improvement of the scientific quality of the whole people, as well as organizational construction, talent evaluation and recommendation, education and training, commendations and awards.
The new era promotes the harmonious coexistence of man and nature
Since 2020, the international pattern has accelerated its evolution, and the covid-19 epidemic has triggered people's deep reflection on the relationship between man and nature, and issues such as ecological environmental protection, climate governance and sustainable development are major challenges facing the development of human society.
At such a major historical juncture, on April 22, 2021, President Xi Jinping attended the Leaders' Climate Summit by video and delivered an important speech entitled "Jointly Building a Community of Human and Natural Life". He pointed out that in the face of unprecedented difficulties in global environmental governance, the international community should have unprecedented ambition and action, have the courage to take responsibility, and work together to build a community of human and natural life. He also stressed that it is necessary to "adhere to the harmonious coexistence of man and nature", "adhere to green development", "adhere to systematic governance" and so on.
Under the strong leadership of the Party, China is continuing to promote green development, promote the construction of ecological civilization, and promote the implementation of sustainable development strategies. As a geography specializing in the study of the relationship between man and nature and the Geographical Society of China, composed of geographers, it will fully understand the new opportunities and new missions entrusted by the times, have the courage to take responsibility, actively give play to the advantages of the discipline, focus on the coupling of man and land, analyze and understand the major issues facing human society in the context of global change in the environment, resource utilization and sustainable development, and unite and lead the majority of members and geographers to make greater contributions to the joint construction of a community of human and natural life.
Looking forward to the new era, the Chinese Geographical Society will further explore the disciplinary value of geography. With the emergence of global problems such as climate change, the original dual structure of natural and humanistic division of disciplines is no longer suitable for the needs of actual development. These are precisely the embodiment of the comprehensive, interdisciplinary and regional disciplinary advantages of geography. Therefore, on the basis of multilateral and bilateral cooperation, the Society will actively promote global scientific research programs and play a leading role. At the same time, as China gradually moves to the center of the world stage, the China Geographical Society will also strive to rank among the world's first-class societies and form an international status and international discourse power in the scientific and technological circles that match China's comprehensive national strength.
The Geographical Society of China held a conference marking its 110th anniversary
Forge ahead into a new era, stride forward on a new journey. Chinese geography will always adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, inherit the struggle genes of the Communist Party of China, keep up with the general trend of national and world development, establish a global vision, face the major strategic needs of the country, forge ahead in a pioneering spirit, and forge ahead.
Source: China Association for Science and Technology Information Center
Source: Today's WeChat public account of the Association for Science and Technology
Organizations at all levels of the China Association for Science and Technology should adhere to the responsibility positioning of serving scientific and technological workers, serving innovation-driven development, serving to improve the scientific quality of the whole people, and serving the scientific decision-making of the party and the government, and promote the construction of open, hub-type, and platform-based science and technology association organizations. Take up the long arm, take root in the grass-roots level, unite and lead the vast number of scientific and technological workers to actively march into scientific and technological innovation, organize and carry out innovative scramble actions, promote the prosperity and development of science and technology, promote the popularization and popularization of science, and truly become a people's organization that unites and links the vast number of scientific and technological workers under the leadership of the party, and become an important force in scientific and technological innovation. ——Xi Jinping