The Greatness and Transformation of Civil Engineering
Lecturer: Qian Qihu
Qian Qihu, born in 1937, is a leading expert in defense engineering, a member of the first cohort of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Army Engineering University of the People's Liberation Army. He formerly served as the Vice President of the International Society for Rock Mechanics, the Chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, and the Chairman of the Defense Engineering Branch of the China Civil Engineering Society. He has received the Major Scientific and Technological Achievement Award at the National Science Conference, as well as the First, Second, and Third prizes of the State Science and Technology Award. In 2013, he was cited for the First-Class Meritorious Service. In 2018, he was honored with State Preeminent Science and Technology Award. In 2019, he was named a National Moral Model. In 2021, he was honored with the title of “National Outstanding Communist Party Member”. In 2022, he received the Bayi Medal and the Touching China Person of the Year Award.
Academician Qian Qihu has dedicated 60 years of diligent work to China's defense engineering field, establishing the discipline of defense engineering in the country and developing it into a national key discipline with key laboratories and innovative research groups. He developed theoretical and technical systems covering protection from shallow-buried to deep-buried engineering, from single structures to entire engineering systems, and from conventional to ultra-high resistance capabilities. He resolved critical technical challenges related to engineering protection against nuclear explosions in air, contact surface explosions, earth-penetrating explosions, as well as penetration and detonation attacks by high-tech conventional weapons. Furthermore, several strategic proposals he put forward—including the transformation of defense engineering construction, the development of ultra-high-resistance deep underground defense projects, the simultaneous construction of bridges and tunnels in strategic passages, and the underground storage of energy reserves—have been adopted and implemented by the Central Military Commission and relevant national ministries.
Academician Qian Qihu is the founder of China's modern defense engineering theory, the creator of the discipline of defense engineering, and a leading force in its technological innovation. He has made outstanding contributions to the construction and development of China's defense engineering capabilities.
Lecture Time: 16:00 PM, 26 May (Monday), 2025
Venue: Music Hall, Qianhu Campus, Nanchang University
Organizers: Academic Committee of Nanchang University, School of Infrastructure Engineering of Nanchang University
