The Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA) appealed to Chinese scholars and students overseas to work more for China's modernization.

At a forum held yesterday to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1911 revolution, which toppled the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), hundreds of WRSA members spoke highly of overseas experts and students who contributed to the spread of democracy and science prior to the 1911 Revolution.

President of the WRSA Ding Shisun appealed to overseas and returned experts to learn from the older generations and to work harder for the development of the nation.

The 1911 Revolution, led by Sun Yat-sen and joined by thousands of young people who had studied abroad, ended 2,000 years of feudal rule in China.

The WRSA is a non-governmental organization formed voluntarily by returned scholars from western countries in 1913.

(China Daily 09/26/2001)