Mathematical tradition in Beijing can be traced back to ancient times, especially in the 13th century, when a number of outstanding mathematicians came out from here of whom Zhu Shi-jie was a representative. Their work reflected a highlight in medieval mathematics.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Beijing has played a central role in the development of modern mathematics in China. The year 1912 saw the establishment of the department of mathematics at Peking University - the first department of mathematics in China. In 1930, the first graduate student program of mathematics in China was initiated at Tsinghua University. Among the first graduate students of mathematics was S.S. Chern. In 1952, the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was founded in Beijing, of which Hua Loo-keng was the first director.

Today, Beijing has become an important center of mathematical education and research in China. Three leading universities- Peking University (founded in 1898), Tsinghua University (1911), Beijing Normal University (1902)- conduct mathematics instruction on a broad scale as well as high level research. With six other universities with department of mathematics or applied mathematics, there are a total of 2000 mathematics students (including 500 graduate students) in Beijing.

In the Chinese Academy of Sciences, there is Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences under which there are four mathematical institutes-the Institute of Mathematics, the Institute of Applied Mathematics, the Institute of Systems Science, and the Institute of Computational Mathematics, where some 400 researchers with 260 graduate students are working on many up-to-date research projects in various fields of mathematics.

Beijing has held an important place in the cultural interaction between East and West. Early in 1607, the first Chinese translation of Euclid's Elements was published here. In the ensuing years, especially in the past century, the development of modern mathematics in China has been in fact accompanied by active exchanges. We should mention, for instance, the influential visits to Beijing by B. Russell (1920), N. Wiener (1935) and J. Hadamard (1936). In the past two decades, the international exchanges have increased overwhelmingly. Every year we receive numerous visitors from different countries and areas from all over the world and carry out many cooperative research programs.

It is our great honor that Beijing has been chosen to be the site for the ICM2002. As the first Congress in the new century, and held for the first time in a developing country, it will undoubtedly open a glorious page in the progress of mathematical science and in the universal cooperation of mankind.

AMSS

Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences was founded in December 28, 1998. It was established based on the four former mathematical institutes:

Institute of Mathematics
Institute of Applied Mathematics
Institute of Systems Science
Institute of Computational Mathematics and Scientific/Engineering Computing

Three Leading Universities

Peking University - School of Mathematical Science
Tsinghua University - Department of Applied Mathematics
Beijing Normal University - Department of Mathematics