On 27 September 2008, Hamburg's marine researcher, Prof. Dr. Werner Alpers, received the "National Friendship Award of the People's Republic of China" in the "Great Hall of the People" in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
Werner Alpers, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Physical Oceanography of the University of Hamburg, will receive this recognition for his many years of close cooperation with the Ocean University of China, located in the port of Qingdao. The award cites the hard work with which he attained outstanding success and the respect of his Chinese colleagues.
Alpers has been a Guest Professor at the Ocean University of China since 1999. Until his retirement in the year 2001 he was head of the research group "Satellite Oceanography" at the Institute of Physical Oceanography of the University of Hamburg.
The "National Friendship Award" is the highest award given by the People's Republic to foreigners, commending their contributions to the economic and cultural development of China. This year, the "State Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs" of the People's Republic of China presented the National Friendship Award to fifty foreign citizens. On the 29th of September this year's award winners were received by the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China, Wen Jiaboa and invited to a state banquet in the Great Hall of the People to mark the occasion of the 59th anniversary of the creation of the People's Republic of China.
