The National S&T Congress lifted its curtain on January 9, 2005 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Chinese President HU Jingtao made an important speech, and Chinese Premier WEN Jiabao read to the meeting a decision by the State Council on conferring national S&T awards for 2005. HU conferred award certificates and bounties to co-winners of the Top National S&T Award: YE Duzheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and honorable Director of Institute of Atmospheric Physics, CAS, and WU Mengchao, Dean of Eastern Hepatobiliary Hospital affiliated to No. 2 Military Medical School. Then, HU and other senior state leaders conferred award certificates and bounties to the winners of the National Natural Science Award, National Technology Invention Award, and National S&T Advancement Award.  Delegates, winners of national S&T awards, and representatives from Beijing S&T community attended the event.