On the afternoon of 15 December 2018, the China Population Association (CPA) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) China Office jointly organized an Awards Ceremony for Outstanding Thesis Competition Winners in the 3rd National Young Demographers Forum (2017) at Juying Hall of Beijing Friendship Hotel.

The ceremony was presided over by Professor Song Jian, director of Professional Committee of Young Scholars of China Population Association. Dr. Babatunde Ahonsi, Representative of UNFPA in China, and Prof. Zhai Zhenwu, President of China Population Association, delivered speeches respectively.
 

Professor Song Jian, Director of the Professional Committee of Young Scholars of China Population Association, hosts the awards ceremony

Dr. Babatunde Ahonsi, Representative of UNFPA in China, delivers a speech

In his speech, Dr. Babatunde Ahonsi reviewed UNFPA’s cooperation with China for nearly 40 years and stated that UNFPA is very pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to China's population and development capacity building process and in a broad sense to the cause of population and development in China. In the changing national context of China, it has proved to be very meaningful for UNFPA and China Population Association to cooperate on the capacity building of next generation of Chinese demographers in the past few years. Dr. Babatunde Ahonsi proposed that, in 2019 on the occasion of celebrating the 40th anniversary of UNFPA-China cooperation and the 25th anniversary of ICPD Programme of Action, everyone works together to reflect on what would be the priorities of China in population and development and how UNFPA can best support China to attain these goals.

Prof. Zhai Zhenwu, President of China Population Association, delivers a speech

Prof. Zhai Zhenwu pointed out in his speech that, he was very grateful to UNFPA for supporting and helping the development of Chinese demography in the past 40 years, which played an important role in promoting the progress of population and development studies in China. Now China Population Association is working with UNFPA to develop and promote the development of Chinese young demographers, which has been very meaningful. Young scholars are the fresh blood of Chinese demography and represent its future. He hoped that young demographers will continue to work hard on creating a new phase for the development of Chinese demography.

The National Young Demographers Forum Outstanding Thesis Competition has been jointly sponsored by China Population Association and UNFPA China Office since 2016. For the 2017 forum, a total of 186 papers were submitted. All together, 14 prize winners were identified after a rigorous review, including 2 first prizes, 3 second prizes, 4 third prizes and 5 encouragement prizes. The winners were jointly awarded their certificates by UNFPA and China Population Association.