The primary channel of communication between scholars from the United States and their counterparts from China will resume this fall when the National Academy of Sciences reopens its Beijing office, closed for 14 months following last year's massacre at Tiananmen Square (The Scientist, July 10, 1989, page 1). John W. Olsen, a University of Arizona archaeologist, left for Beijing last month to serve a one-year appointment as the office's director.
Reopening the office is going to be a real challenge, says Olsen. To reinitiate projects which were truncated, left dangling for more than a year, is going to be very demanding. That's why this particular position is so critical at this time.
Several projects will be resumed under Olsen's leadership. An interdisciplinary study, including a survey of China's grasslands and investigations of resource exploitation patterns, will be continued. The Beijing office also will continue to promote cross-fertilization in...
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