A small delegation of ISMAN — Prof. A.G. Merzhanov, Prof. I.P. Borovinskaya, and Dr. A.E. Sytschev — took part in the bilateral mini-symposium on SHS at the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) by invitation from Prof. R.Z. Yuan, Honorary President of WUT. The program included 7 plenary lectures. Prof. A.G. Merzhanov (SHS Research, Development, Production and Application) talked about recent achievements of ISMAN. Prof. I.P. Borovinskaya (SHS Ceramics: Synthesis, Technology and Application) reviewed the newest results obtained in the field of SHS ceramics. Dr. A.E. Sytschev (SHS Meetings: Historical Sketch) delivered a rich-illustrated lecture on the history of SHS. Prof. C.C. Ge (Some Development of SHS: FGM, SiC synthesis, HIP materials processing) overviewed the recent data obtained in his laboratory at the University of Science and Technology (Beijing). Prof. S.Y. Du (Composite Mechanics and SHS) talked about composite materials. Interesting lectures have been presented by the hosts — Prof. R.Z. Yuan (Some Considerations about SHS Development) and Prof. С.С. Fu (Some Results of SHS: Nano materials, SHS welding, Multilayers materials, Magnetic Materials, Mathematical Modeling, etc).

The lecture hall was overcrowded with young folks, students of WUT.

In discussions, Prof. A.G. Merzhanov informed about his intention to organize the SHS Association in collaboration with Prof. P. Vincenzini (Italy). Also discussed were the oncoming II Bilateral Sino-Russian Workshop on SHS (China, 2004), programs of cooperation, participation rate of Chinese papers in Int. J. SHS, etc. Prof. R.Z. Yuan informed about the existing plans for practical implementation of SHS in China. The ISMAN visitors highly appreciated the Chinese achievements in SHS R & D and a leading role of Prof. R.Z. Yuan, Prof. C.C. Ge, and Prof. S.Y. Du.

The mini-symposium in Wuhan was a meeting of old friends which also remembered the previous joint actions: the first visit to China of the ISMAN experts headed by Prof. Borovinskaya, III International Symposium on SHS in 1995, and foundation of Sino-Russian Research Center on SHS in China. It was a concerted work of the Russian and Chinese workers that gave an impetus to extensive development of SHS in China. In the Merzhanov's opinion, the Chinese SHS, being still behind the Russian one by its extensity and intensity, is already ahead by the pace of development.

It was found reasonable to hold the II Bilateral Sino-Russian Workshop on SHS (tentatively in China). The Chinese colleagues accepted an invitation to come to Chernogolovka (just after the SHS Symposium in Cracow) as the guests of the I French-Russian Workshop on SHS.

A.E. Sytschev