Sun King Scores Double

(DU YANG)

Shi Zhengrong, Chairman and CEO of the Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., was elected to the fellowship of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) on November 15 for outstanding achievements in research and management in large-scale commercialization of photovoltaic technology. Suntech, headquartered in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, is the world's largest crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer.

The ATSE is an independent, nongovernment organization dedicated to the promotion in Australia of scientific and engineering knowledge for practical purposes.

Shi, 46, is a Chinese Australian. He founded Suntech in 2001 and listed his company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. In January 2008, he received the Fortune Magazine Asia Businessman of the Year award.

Shi, ranked 58th on the Forbes China Rich List 2009, has a net worth of $1.1 billion.

A day after Shi's election, Suntech announced that it would set up its first U.S. factory in the greater Phoenix area in Arizona, which is expected to begin production in the third quarter of 2010. "This is the first step in what I see as a long-term, strategic investment in the North American market," Shi said.

Doctor Bridges Nations

(CNSPHOTO)

Zhou Yunfeng, President of Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan City, central China's Hubei Province, was awarded France's Legion of Honour for his contribution to Sino-French cultural and medical exchanges.

Founded in 1802, the Legion of Honour is the highest honor awarded by the French Government to people who make outstanding contributions to France. Zhou, who received the medal from former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in Wuhan on November 21, is the first Chinese clinical doctor to win it.

Zhou, 58, has been dedicated to medical exchanges between China and France since 1986 when he began his doctoral studies in France. After returning to China in 1991, he helped establish the first Sino-French joint masters training course for Chinese radiological physicists and set up Wuhan University's Sino-French Research Institute for Liver Disease. Zhou was also the first to introduce France's one-stop medical emergency treatment pattern to China.

Singer's New Treat

(CFP)

Sa Dingding, one of the most recognized Chinese singers in overseas markets, staged a concert to preview her second album, Harmony, in Beijing on November 20.

The new album is scheduled for worldwide release in February 2010.

"Compared with my first album, Alive, which was mostly made up of Western influences such as electronic music, this album is expected to be more Eastern, because all its elements belong to Sa Dingding only," Sa was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency.

Sa is well known for her success in mixing modern elements of electronic music with ancient Eastern styles.

Born in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sa spent her childhood living a nomadic life with her grandmother on grasslands where she was routinely surrounded by ethnic music. She said ethnic music with a Mongolian flavor cultivated her easygoing lifestyle.

Sa signed with Universal Music China in 2006. In the next year, she released her first album, Alive, globally, which caught the attention of world-class musicians and producers.

In 2008, Sa won the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award for the Asia-Pacific region.