As one of the activities of NLC centennial celebration, the symposium on "Understanding, Cooperation and Information Sharing: Collection Development, Research and Service on Chinese Studies" was held in the National Library of China on 8 September.

The symposium was sponsored by the NLC, co-sponsored by the East Asian Library, University of Pittsburgh, USA, Center for China Studies Abroad, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and National Research Center of Overseas Sinology, Beijing Foreign Studies University. About 100 experts and scholars from America, Germany, British, France, Korea, Japan, Canada, and China attended the symposium. Zhan Furui, NLC director, addressed the opening speech in the symposium. Chang Pijun, NLC deputy director, presided over the plenary session and made a summary speech in the closing session.

The symposium promoted the exchange and cooperation among institutes and academies of research and service on Chinese Studies, libraries, museums, archives and publishing houses on Chinese Studies home and abroad, and played important roles for promoting the development of the research on Chinese Studies. This symposium marked the beginning of NLC research and service on Chinese Studies.

The theme of the symposium was "Understanding, Cooperation and Information Sharing: Collection Development, Research and Service on Chinese Studies".

The sub-themes were "The History and Prospects of Chinese Studies" and "Information Service on Chinese Studies".

This symposium had plenary session, panel sessions, and discussion. The live broadcasting of the plenary session could be accessed in the website of NLC Centennial Celebration.

There were 4 key-note speeches in the plenary session, which were given by Tang Yijie, professor of Department of Philosophy, Peking University, Yan Shaodang, professor of Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University, Zhan Furui, NLC director, and Владимир Степанович Мясников, academician of Russia Science Academy respectively.

In the afternoon, two panel sessions were held, which discussed the sub-themes of the symposium respectively, i.e. "The History and Prospects of Chinese Studies" and "Information Service on Chinese Studies". And 13 scholars from home and abroad made a speech in the panel sessions. The panel sessions strengthened the understanding of the attendees, provided a platform for the attendees to share academic viewpoints, achievements and experiences, and promoted the research and development of Chinese Studies.

Finally, Chang Pijun, NLC deputy director, made a summary speech in the closing session, which summarized the significances of this symposium, the great importance of doing research on Chinese Studies, the overview of the collections on Chinese Studies in NLC, and important roles of the research and service on Chinese Studies in NLC.