Dear Friends:

　　First, on behalf of all staff members of our Institute, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of you for your visiting the website of CAS Earth Environment Institute. Over the past years, every development of our Institute have been greatly supported by leaders at various levels and by domestic and foreign friends from various circles through concerted cooperation, for which I hereby express our thanks once again！

　　The CAS Earth Environment Institute grew out of CAS Xi’an Research Department of Loess and Quaternary Geology (or Xi’an Loess Department for short）,  which was officially established in March 1985, and developed from CAS Xi’an Open Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology（1987-1993）to CAS National Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology（1993-1999）and to CAS Earth Environment Institute（since 1999）. The Institute now has 75 staff members, including one CAS academician, 14 research fellows and 13 associate research fellows and other senior professionals and technicians as well as 50 visiting mobile researchers, is equipped with right to grant Master and doctor degrees of Quaternary geology, Master and doctor of environmental science and geologic post-doctoral research station, and with 11 doctor tutors, 18 Master tutors, 38 postgraduates under program for doctor and 48 postgraduates under program for Master.

　　In July 2006, CAS Party Group decided to practice rotating director responsibility system in the Earth environment Institute, and issued KFDZ [2006] No.49 Circular on Trying out Rotating Responsibility System in the Earth Environment Institute, clarifying that the four directors from the four research units will serve as rotating director of the Institute in turn, with term office of two years for each, and verifying 80 innovative positions.

　　Under the leadership of new leading team and guidance of the academic thought of Academician An Zhisheng, the Institute, following the overall development thinking of highlighting three importanttransformations (transformation from “past global change research” to “past-modern combined global change research”; transformation “from monsoon environmental research to monsoon－arid environmental research ”even to “combination with regional and global change research” and “from natural process to interaction of nature and human”),　centering on three major issues（the history, law and trend of Chinese mainland environment change; physical, chemical and biological process of environmental change; new technology and new method to gain information on earth environment system）, developing three major orientations（impact of human activities on environmental  and ecological system; integrated research of Chinese mainland environmental and global change theory; research of cosmic nuclein　and environment）, building one platform（national experiment platform for research of western earth environment）”, adjusts and concentrates discipline orientations to integrate the Institute’s former six laboratories into the current four research departments（ancient environment research department,  modern environment research department,  dust　and environment research department and accelerator mass spectrum center）and one  national key laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, supported with a batch of modern high-precision experiment instrument and equipment.  

　　At the end of 2006, our Institute newly acquired a 33-mu plot just adjacent to accelerator mass spectrum center in Xi’an Hi-tech Development Zone. Currently, the 12000m²core bank and the matching facilities are under construction.

　　Since its establishment, the Institute has made a series of important research achievements, won one for each of National Award for Natural Science Class II and Class III, three provincial and ministerial award Class I, reported seven researchers winning support from National Fund for Outstanding Youth Scientists,four winners of National Top 100 Doctor Papers, two winners of CAS Excellent Doctor Papers. During 2000-2008, researchers of our Institute published 968 papers of various fields, including 506 SCI papers（162 papers with first writer from our Institute）, with per capita papers published ranking No.1 in CAS institutes of resources and environment for nine consecutive years（from CAS Resources and Environmental Scientific Information Center’s Statistics of Cited Papers from CAS Institutes of Resources and Environment）. By far the Institute has published nine papers in Nature, Science and PNAS, making our Institute researchers’ papers of their fields published on Nature/Science by average one per year.

　　For a long time the Institute have maintained a wide and substantial international cooperation and exchange with world-leading research units and laboratories. Through conducting international project cooperation, academic exchange, mutual visit of researches and youth talents training, etc, the Institute makes active efforts to drive international cooperation to develop in more-diversified and higher-level manner. At present, the Institute continues to carry out extensive exchanges and cooperation with more than 20 countries such as US, UK, Germany, Japan, Sweden and Australia, etc.

　　Time goes by, great achievements have been made. Through 22 years’ struggling and hardworking, the Institute has developed its road with unique characteristics, made brilliant achievements encouraging our members and planned great target inspiring our confidence to face new challenges and create new brilliance in the new times. Today, the Earth Environment Institute is in the times with booming Chinese economy and rapidly-developing science and technology. We will follow the Institute development principle of “considering all aspects from the angle of being beneficial to development of our Institute, making arrangement from the angle of being beneficial to creating high-level achievements and carrying out works from the angle of being beneficial to training talents and talents echelon, to develop our Institute in whole-hearted, innovative, honest, harmonious and future-oriented manner, and to struggle for building our Institute into an international high-level scientific research base of continental environment by keeping pace with the times and taking all major opportunities.  

　　Boundless communications, unrestricted cooperation and unlimited opportunities, with which the Earth Environment Institute welcomes domestic and foreign friends from various circles to cooperate and commonly develop for greater brilliance on the western land and through completely-new attitude, sincere mind and cordial cooperation！