Bulletin Number Three 1984

International Symposium on Chinese Medicinal Material Research Dr. H.M. Chang speaking at the opening ceremony An International Symposium on Chinese Medicinal Material Research, organized by the Chinese Medicinal Materials Research Centre (CMMRC), was held from 12th 14th June. The three-day Symposium aimed at promoting exchange of ideas among scientists interested in the advancement of scientific investigation of traditional Chinese medicines. Attending the Symposium were about two hundreds scientists and scholars. More than one hundred and forty of them were from twenty-three countries all over the world, including China, U.S.A., Japan, South Korea, West Germany, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland. Local participants were mainly members of the University's Faculties of Science and Medicine. Altogether fifty papers were delivered by the participants, among whom were such renowned authorities as Dr. S.Y. Hu of Harvard University, Professor Shijo Shibata of Meiji College of Pharmacy in Japan, Professor H. Wagner of Universitat Munchen in West Germany, Professor Wang Yu of Academia Sinica in Shanghai, Professor G.J. Xu of Nanjing College of Pharmacy and Professor Xue Shepu, of the Institute of Basic Medical Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. The Symposium was declared open by Dr. Ma Lin, the Vice-Chancellor. Also speaking at the Opening Ceremony were Dr. H.M. Chang, Director of the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre and Chairman of the Symposium Organizing Committee, Professor Wang Yu and Professor Shoji Shibata. In his address, Dr. H.M. Chang pointed out, 'Hong Kong is a good rendezvous for Chinese scientists to meet their counterparts from other parts of the world. We, the Hong Kong people, feel qualified to serve as hosts because we have neither language nor cultural barriers with Chinese scientists and because we maintain close contacts with many leading researchers from other countries.' Professor Wang described the international Symposium as extremely meaningful and useful, and hoped that Hong Kong would not only be a free port as it is now but would also become a ‘free port' for academic exchange. He observed that scientific discoveries were predominantly results of international efforts and that international cooperation and exchange of ideas could promote scientific research, same with Chinese medicinal material research. Professor Shoji Shibata commended the computerized database of Chinese medicinal material of the CMMRC, saying, ‘The information retrieval system of this database will give a great benefit to the researchers of Chinese medicines. Especially for non- Chinese scientists it will be very helpful to remove the language barrier for investigating Chinese literatures, since the database is based on English.' Eight major topics were covered in the Symposium: general approach of Chinese medicinal material research; recent developments of Chinese medical material research, liver diseases, trichosanthin and related abortifacient proteins, anti-cancer and other drugs, ginseng, micro-circulation and gossypol. The proceedings of the Symposium on Chinese Medicinal Material Research (English version) will be published shortly with the Chinese version to follow. 2 NEWS