By Huang Lu, Gu Feng & Wang Mengzhou

At 10:30 am on September 7, 2019, German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived at Wuhan Tianhe Airport from Beijing by a special plane, starting her visit to Hubei Province.

This is Merkel's 12th visit to China as a chancellor.

Usually, she visits a new city besides Beijing in China on her tour. This time, she chose Wuhan,capital of Hubei Province.

It was still hot in the early fall of Wuhan. Having a busy schedule,Chancellor Merkel visited the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge and then hurried to Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) where she delivered a speech and interacted with the students.

Merkel spoke eloquently in a 10-minute speech and won rounds of applause.

Highly commends HUST and values scientific exchanges

At 11:50 in the morning of September 7, 2019, the Mingde Lecture Hall in the Wutongyu Academic Exchange Center of HUST was fully occupied.

The students and faculty welcomed Merkel with thunderous applause when she walked into the hall. Merkel wore a pink jacket and waved to the audience with a smile.

默克尔愉快地回答学生们的提问。（魏铼 摄）Merkel answered the questions from students delightedly. (Photo by Wei Lai)

Li Yuanyuan, President of HUST, extended a warm welcome to Merkel and the German delegation. He started by introducing the long history of friendly exchanges between HUST and Germany. The Tongji Medical College of HUST was founded by the German doctor Erich Paulun in 1907. HUST has forged strategic partnerships with multiple German universities and is in cooperation with such renowned institutes as Heidelberg University, the Max Planck Institute, and Bosch Corporate Research—all of which have delivered fruitful results.It has been the center of China-Germany medical exchanges since it launched the German Medical Class in 1962.

Li Yuanyuan said that HUST would like to deepen friendship and explore the potential of bilateral cooperation with German universities and research institutes in the future,contributing to building a shared future for mankind.

“It gives me great pleasure to meet you here. HUST is a prestigious university that nurtures talents in multitudes and enjoys great fame both at home and abroad.” Merkel highly commended the university at the beginning of the speech.

Merkel also mentioned a number of HUST alumni who have had a great influence in the world, such as Professor Deng Julong and Professor Liu Sifeng, the founders of grey relational analysis； business elite represented by Mr. Zhang Xiaolong, the creator of WeChat；as well as tennis players Li Na and Li Ting.

Merkel said that a lot of German enterprises have businesses in Wuhan, such as Siemens. She also highly valued bilateral exchanges in science and technology, such as the application of AI and big data in the pharmaceutical arena.

She said that China has achieve dunprece dent ed development in the last several decades and has lifted millions of people out of poverty. China is one of the most important players in international politics and the global economy, and shoulders great international responsibility.

Merkel ended her speech with“Wishing China and Germany a better future!”

Impressed by the development of Hubei and dramatic changes in China

The speech lasted for nearly ten minutes, and students from HUST raised questions one after another in the Q&A session.

Song Haipei, a student from the School of Sociology, asked,“Your Excellency, may I know why you chose Wuhan? What's your impression about Wuhan?”

“When I flew from Beijing to Shenzhen, and the other time from Beijing to Hangzhou, I looked down from the plane and saw the Yangtze River. Then I decided that I should visit a city near the river.” Merkel said.She added that she had been to different cities during each visit to China, including Shenyang,Hefei, Xi'an, Chengdu, Shanghai,and Shenzhen. She asked whether it was possible to visit Wuhan before coming to China. She also heard a lot about Wuhan, and thus decided to come to Hubei Province.

During her visit to Wuhan,Merkel was impressed by the development of Hubei and the dramatic changes in China.“What impressed me most is the high-level urbanization,improved living standards, fast infrastructure construction, and the diligent Chinese people. The land is full of vitality.”

Wang Juncheng, a German major student from the School of Foreign Languages, asked a question in German, “What kind of role do you think the Confucius Institute and the Goethe Institute should play?”

Merkel felt surprised when the student asked in German and said that the Confucius Institute has provided the youth of the world with opportunities to learn Chinese and understand China.Likewise, the Goethe Institute is a decoder that increases mutual understanding and friendship between Germany and other countries. These platforms will promote more cooperation in the future. Lastly, she praised the student and said, “You speak very good German. You should be proud of it.”

2019年11月，华中科技大学与马尔堡大学签署校际合作协议，续写中德医学领域友好合作新篇章。（刘坤维 摄）In November 2019, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Marburg University signed a cooperation agreement,continuing the friendly cooperation between China and Germany in the medical field. (Photo by Liu Kunwei)

2019 年4月，首届世界大健康博览会在武汉国际博览中心举行，图为参展的西门子医疗器械。A Siemens medical appliance exhibited on the first World Health Expo in the Wuhan International Expo Center in April 2019.

Chen Puyun from the School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation raised a question,“What do you think the traditional manufacturing industry should develop in the internet era?”

Merkel replied that traditional industry will not disappear, but that AI should also be promoted.

Hu Yingjie from Tongji Medical College asked, “What's your opinion of promoting cooperation and joint research among Chinese and German medical institutes?”

“Medical science and education in China has made great achievements. I hope universities and medical institutes from both sides will establish partnerships to strengthen cooperation and exchanges. I believe German medical students will also be interested.” Merkel said.

Liang Ying from the School of Environment raised her hand and asked, “In your opinion, what can college students do in the area of environmental protection?”

Merkel said that everyone could make their own contribution to fields such as energy saving, and construction of energy-efficient buildings.

“China has made remarkable achievements in environmental protection, for example, the Three Gorges Hydropower Station, wind power, solar power, and other renewable energy development.China is also leading the world in the development of hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles.”

The audience were still eager for more exchanges as the 40-minure Q&A session was about to finish. At the end, Merkel extended her sincere invitation to the students, “Welcome to Germany for further studies and exchanges in the future.”

默克尔在长江大桥上（张璨龙 摄）Merkel on the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge (Photo by Zhang Canlong)

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Exchanges and Cooperation between Hubei Province and Germany

Hubei Province has profound historical links with Germany.

The German Medical School in Shanghai,the predecessor of the Tongji Medical College of HUST,was founded by the German doctor Erich Paulun in 1907.

In the 1980s, Mr. Werener Gerich, a retired German engineer, was appointed by the Wuhan Municipal Government as director of the Wuhan Diesel Engine Factory and became the first foreign director in China since reform and opening-up.

Hubei and Germany have deepened cooperation in economy, trade, science and technology, medical science, culture, tourism, environmental protection,education, and other fields in the last several decades,which have played a positive role in serving national diplomacy towards Germany, and promoting the opening up and quality development of Hubei Province.

Hubei Province has six pairs of sister cities in Germany, including 2 pairs of sister province/states,including Hubei Province and Saxony State, Hubei Province and Saarland State, Wuhan and Duisburg,Yichang and Ludwigsburg, Huangshi and Rottweil Landkreis, Qianjiang and Heidenheim. Since the establishment of sister province/states in 2007, Hubei and Saxony have maintained frequent high-level mutual visits, strong momentum of economic and trade cooperation, and active interaction in science and technology, culture, environmental protection, and education.

In terms of economy and trade, by the end of 2018,Germany had invested in 158 projects in Hubei, with a contract value of 500 million US dollars, and the actual foreign investment utilized reached 400 million dollars.The scope of business covers R&D in automobiles and products for infants and children. Hubei has invested and established 21 enterprises in Germany with investment contract values of over 160 million dollars, covering special equipment manufacturing, automobile parts production, and IT.

As for medical cooperation, the Affiliated Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College of HUST is the chairman unit of the China-Germany Society of Medicine.In the last three decades, Tongji Hospital has served as a bridge and played a leading role in promoting China-Germany exchanges and cooperation in medical science through the China-Germany Society of Medicine.Moreover, Tongji Hospital has also maintained 30 years of cooperation with the University of Duisburg-Essen in terms of medical science, teaching, research, and talent training. Up till 2018, Hubei has selected 58 professionals to study in German medical institutes. (Translation: Li Li)

威尔纳·格里希（中）与技术人员和工人一起分析柴油机的质量问题（新华社资料片）Werner Gerich (middle) analyzing with technicians and workers the quality issues of the diesel engines (Source: Xinhua News Agency)

2018年6月，华中科技大学同济医学院与德国杜伊斯堡·埃森大学医学院共同举办的“第二届中德医学学术联合讲演会”在附属协和医院召开。（刘坤维 摄）Opening ceremony of the Second Joint Symposium between Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College of HUST and University of Duisburg-Essen Medical Faculty in June 2018. (Photo by Liu Kunwei)