About 400 scientists from 26 countries including the United States, Britain and Japan, attended the opening ceremony on Saturday of the annual meeting of the International Society for Systems Sciences.
This is the first time China has hosted an international meeting on systems science.
The three-day meeting is expected to explore ways to solve difficult and "hot" social and economic issues through new ways of thinking, and sum up latest achievements in the field.
After the opening ceremony, Professor Mike Jackson, president of the society, Professor John Warfield of the United States and Chinese Professor Wu Jie gave lectures.
Cheng Siwei, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, and Chen Liangyu, mayor of Shanghai, attended the opening ceremony.
(People's Daily August 5, 2002)
