The Anhui provincial government held its 13th Huangshan Mountain Friendship Awards ceremony, in the capital Hefei, on Jan 9, to recognize the contributions of 15 foreign experts from the United States, Canada, Germany, and at least a dozen others, with Wang Xuejun, the provincial governor, taking part to hand out the awards individually.

The Friendship Award, which was established in 1995, is the province’s highest award for foreign experts, with 166 of them having received it. Six of the foreign experts taking part in a post-ceremony symposium were asked to comment.

Fang Zhihong, the deputy secretary-general of the government, who was also present, said the government has always given foreign experts priority and that the economic and social development can be partly attributed to foreign experts. He added that government departments need to provide better services for them and concluded by saying he hopes they will continue to contribute.

Edited by Lin Hong and Roger Bradshaw