Joining together '02

As Marco Polo did 800 years ago the ISF Welding Institute has set out to visit China during a phase of new challenges. With the first International Aachen/Beijing Welding Conference the long-standing contacts between Chinese scientists and the ISF will reach a new culmination. For many years now Chinese students, doctoral candidates and scientists have been an important part of the Institute’s life. Those young ambassadors of the new China not only promoted the scientific exchange between our two nations – the insight into their culture is a great gain for every individual ISF member. The long-standing and intensive cooperation between the Tsinghua University and the RWTH Aachen University is, at present, reflected in the common master study courses “Production Engineering” and “Automotive Systems Engineering”. Within the scope of these study courses Chinese students have, in the past winter term, started their first-year studies in Aachen – next autumn a group of German students will take up their studies in Beijing. This student exchange may perhaps lead to the development of a new Silk Road of Science between Aachen and Beijing, where the treasures of the 21st century will be exchanged – knowledge and experience. Besides the scientific exchange it is of course the desire to see with our own eyes the developing economical great power and the thousands of years of Chinese culture that leads us to China. China is a prospering economy and one of the world’s fastest growing markets. It is foreseeable that in the course of the coming decades the economical exchange between China and Germany will be on the increase. Many of the young ISF scientists who participate in this conference will during their later professional career certainly be in contact with Chinese partners. The exchange of innovative scientific findings is not the only purpose of the conference – it is also the appreciation and the better understanding of future partners. The subject of the conference “Joining Together” symbolises appropriately the double meaning of our intentions: We want to discuss about Joining, not only materials, but also people. The Conference Proceedings gives a comprehensive survey about the relevant research work of the Tsinghua University and of the ISF in the field of Joining. Moreover, an impression of the manifold research projects and of the necessity for an intensive scientific exchange is given.