April 10, 2008

Dear Yue-Liang, Colleagues, and Friends:

　　Congratulations on the thirty years anniversary of the Institute of Theoretical Physics! And congratulations on what ITP has accomplished and what it means for the development of theoretical physics in China.

　　I take a tremendous pleasure and a humble sense of honor to write this note. The establishment of ITP in 1978 signified a beginning of China’s determination to resume quests for nature’s knowledge and the departure from a tumultuous time. An elite group of theoretical physicists, some of whom I knew of initially from their research works, not fettered by the handicap they subjected, worked to form a new research center that destined to become an intellectual powerhouse of China. Since 1979, I have had the good fortune and privilege to witness the growth and development of ITP, feeling its sometime hardship at the beginning and sharing the joy of growth and achievements in more recent years.

　　The history of ITP is an illustration of important developments taking place in China. The milestones of ITP’s development are heartening to recount, but this can be done here only very incompletely. ITP is among the first institutes of the Chinese Academy of Science to participate in the ambitious Knowledge Creation Program. Opening up to the theoretical physics communities nationally and internationally, adding to its rank many talented young researchers recruited from worldwide searches, and solidifying its management, ITP spotlighted the development of science in China. ITP has been highly appraised by an international evaluation team of theoretical physicists. The establishment of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China attests again the achievements of ITP and the vibrant theoretical physics communities in China, their vitality and potential in the future.

　　Looking towards the future, definitely much sooner than the next thirty years, I can see ITP to greatly expand in frontier researches in both breadth and depth, spawn new research directions, become a greater training place for the younger generations of researchers, and a focal point of the interaction of researchers inside and outside of China, that is, a national and international center for theoretical physics.

　　Congratulations again.

　　Sincerely yours,

　　Bing-Lin Young