hen it rains, it pours and the past months have witnessed "downpours" of academic congregations in different parts of the world.

Take China. The Mainland is fast becoming a venue for large-scale academic conferences and exhibitions and World Scientific is quick to have its presence felt at these events. For example, we rubbed shoulders with some 2000 Chinese bioscientists from China and beyond at the 10th International Symposium of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA). The event brought together bioscientists from academia and industry and was of much significance in view of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak last year and bird flu this year.

In addition, WS also attended the 32nd International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP'04) and the annual Beijing International Book Fair. The former was the largest scientific gathering of the high-energy physics community. It featured plenary sessions covering topics of major interest to the community worldwide and sessions that shared recent research results and future plans. The latter saw the participation of more than 900 China and overseas publishers, with the Chinese exhibitors playing the leading role in the seminars and activities held during the fair. WS fetched good sales at all three events and strengthened our foothold in the world’s most populous country.

Meanwhile, we continued to look West, participating in numerous conferences and seminars at different European cities. For instance, we attended the 20th General Conference of the Condensed Matter Division of the European Physical Society in the Czech Republic’s capital, Prague. The conference comprised plenary talks, focused sessions with invited speakers, minicolloquia and poster sessions. Our Physics titles were also snapped up like hot cakes at the 31st European Physical Society Conference of Plasma Physics, where science of laser-plasma interaction and inertial confinement fusion, as well as dusty and low temperature plasmas, had relatively greater prominence than before. The event was held in yet another European capital - London.