In November 2019, dr Monika Rzonsowska and prof. UAM dr hab. Beata Dudziec visited prof. Hongzhi Liu research group in Jinan, People’s Republic of China. After lasting almost 24h journey, along with prof. UAM dr hab. Robert Przekop and MSc Dariusz Brząkalski, the four representatives of Adam Mickiewicz University and Centre for Advanced Technologies, reached their goal on the map of China. City Jinan is located ca. 350km in the south-east from Beijing (Pekin), on the Huang He River and it is the capital of the Shandong Subdistrict. In 2010 it had a “medium” population of 6.8 mln 🙂

We were guests of prof. Liu on his special invitation. He is a very recognizable scientist in the chemistry of organosilicon compounds and materials and is a full professor at Shandong University. It is one of the oldest universities in China, established in 1901, the second national institution, only after Imperial University of Peking, and is a key comprehensive university with a long tradition, a variety of disciplines, strong academic strength, and distinctive characteristics, which has great influence both at home and abroad. In 2017 dr Beata Dudziec had a chance to visit Jinan and participate in the 18th International Symposium on Silicon Chemistry (ISOS XVIII) in conjunction with the 6th Asian Silicon Symposium (ASiS-6) and 2017 International Symposium on Silsesquioxanes-Based Functional Materials held by prof. Liu, that brought many interesting scientific discussions. So it was her second meeting with his research team.

Our visit to Shandong University concerned cooperation within Polish-Chinese/Chinese-Polish Joint Research project application entitled “3D printed electric conductive silicones based on silsesquioxanes type compounds and carbon nanotubes composite systems” supported by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR). Members of the AMU delegation had the opportunity to see laboratories and infrastructure of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering placed in Central Campus. It was a very good time to exchange knowledge and experience within the subject of organosilicon chemistry. We had a seminar with prof. Liu’s research group and prof. Dudziec presented a lecture “Functionalized silsesquioxanes as building blocks for organosilicon systems” based on the latest results of our group and dr Rzonsowska had a speech titled “The catalysis of alkynylgermane/silicone compounds as model reactions for silsesquioxanes modification”. In addition to the scientific experience, it was a great opportunity to get to know the local culture and see important tourist points in Jinan. Additionally, we tasted delicious Chinese or more Jinan cuisine which one of the features is the use of soup in its dishes. It was worth trying. We hope our visit will be the beginning of good cooperation between our two groups.