0 people died in landslides in Gansu Province, Ding was invited to conferences held by the provincial government. He is also a permanent advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology in Beijing, for which he provides expert reports. Finally, Ding is a party member. That, he says with a smile, is important in China. The Politics

official universities and 130 or so polytechnics or institutes, most of them emphasizing technology. Many of them are in the capital. and in 2012, the Ministry of Science and Technology established its own university resulting in two major science and tech universities in and near Addis Ababa. Behind all the tech glitz however and t