The awarding ceremony for Honorary Citizen and People's Friendly Envoy of Shandong province was held on Sept 29 in Jinan, capital of Shandong province. It was held in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Vladimir Terzija, visiting professor at the School of Electrical Engineering, Shandong University was named an honorary citizen of Shandong.

Tan Baocai, dean of SDU's School of Life Sciences and Zhang Youming, chief of SDU's State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, were named the people's friendly envoys of Shandong province.

Established by the Shandong Provincial People's Government, the title of "Honorary Citizen of Shandong province" is the highest award granted to foreigners who have long maintained a friendship with China and made outstanding contributions to economic and social development and foreign exchanges in Shandong.

The title of "People's Friendly Envoy of Shandong province", established by Shandong People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, is granted to foreigners who have long maintained friendship with China, played an important role in friendly exchanges and cooperation between Shandong and the outside world, and have gained a high reputation or influence in Shandong and China.

This year, 16 foreigners were honored as honorary citizens of Shandong and 54 were honored as people's friendly envoys.

To date, Shandong has handed out awards to 101 honorary citizens and 196 people's friendly envoys.