Cheng Gengdong, a mathematician at Dalian University of Scienceand Engineering, and the other 48 scientists obtained Awards of Scientific and Technological Progress.

Awards of Scientific and Technological Achievement, life awards for prominent scientists, were vacant this time.

Zhu Lilan, chair of the board of trustees of the foundation, said most members of the HLHL Foundation selection board deemed candidates to the achievements awards were not sufficiently qualified at present.

The average age of the awardees are younger than those in previous years, said Zhu, former minister in charge of Science and Technology and now a national legislator, adding that women scientists are getting more and more attention in selection process.

Financed by Ho Sin-Hang, Leung Kau-Kui, Ho Tim and Lee Quo-Wei,all Hong Kong financiers, in 1994, the foundation aims to award prominent and outstanding Chinese scientists with one million-HongKong dollar Achievements Award and 200,000-HK-dollar Progress Award.

In the past ten years, 21 scientists obtained Achievements Awards and 555 got Progress Awards.

Tung Chee Hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Chen Ning Yang, a Nobel laureate in physics,Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and Chinese Ministry of Education sent congratulations to the tenth anniversary of the founding of the foundation.