BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Academy of Sciences will open its doors to science enthusiasts this weekend, engaging the public with latest sci-tech achievements and free access to its cutting-edge research facilities.

China's top institution in terms of natural sciences, the academy will host its 20th Public Science Day on May 18 and 19. More than 100 research institutes nationwide under the academy will open key laboratories, organize lectures and demonstrate experiments to science-savvy audiences.

Large-scale equipment made available for public viewing will include the Modern Ark 60 remote-sensing aircraft, the Beijing Electron Positron Collider and the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility.

More than 50 academicians will attend the event, delivering lectures on topics such as space exploration, artificial intelligence and the quantum sciences.

International involvement will be a prominent feature of this year. According to the academy, the two-day event will welcome a group of over 40 foreign students and visiting scholars in Beijing. The Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research will invite Nepali teenagers to visit its scientific observation sites in Katmandu, while the Wuhan Botanical Garden will promote international biodiversity conservation, with lectures and exhibitions focusing on baobab trees -- a unique species found in Africa and Australia.

Public Science Day is an event that has been held in China since 2005. It has grown into a captivating science festival that has attracted the participation of numerous science institutes and millions of both offline and online visitors over the past two decades.

Zhou Dejin, responsible for science popularization at the academy, highlighted that science fever can be partly attributed to an increasing number of sci-tech professionals engaging in the promotion of science. In recent years, China has placed equal importance on both science popularization and sci-tech innovation.

Latest data shows that 14.14 percent of Chinese citizens were scientifically literate in 2023, and China aims to raise this level to 25 percent by 2035.

"Science popularization is not only fascinating but also honorable," said Zhou, emphasizing that as the country's leading scientific research institution, the academy bears the responsibility of enhancing people's scientific literacy and will continue its dedicated efforts to connect the public with the scientific community. Enditem

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