On the evening of July 5th, 2021, the opening ceremony of the 6th Zhi-Hong International Summer School of Advanced Materials (Zhi-Hong ISS) was hosted online by the School of Material Science and Engineering (SMSE), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) . The theme of the 6th Zhi-Hong ISS is Advanced Functional Materials. A total of 45 people attended the opening ceremony, including 38 students from 7 countrie. Professor Lingti Kong (Director of Academic Affairs Office of SJTU Graduate School), Associate Professor Ke Chen (Deputy Director of International Affairs Division of SJTU), Professor Tao Deng (Vice Dean of SJTU-SMSE), Chair Professor Hong Wang (Teacher Representative of Zhi-Hong ISS), Professor Peng Zhang (Assistant Dean of SMSE), Associate Professor Tao Hang (Assistant Dean of SMSE), and other staffs for Zhi-Hong ISS attended the Opening Ceremony. The Opening Ceremony was hosted by Feifei Xie, an outstanding member of the 5th Zhi-Hong International Summer School.

Lingti Kong first presented a warm welcome to all the summer school students, and expressed his thanks to the working group and volunteers who organized this summer school.  On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the founding of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, he wished the success of the summer school and hoped students from all over the world would keep an unforgettable memory during their study in Zhi-Hong ISS.

Director Ke Chen, founder of Zhi-Hong ISS, introduced the history and the goal of Zhi-Hong ISS, which is to create a stage for student-centered high-quality international collaboration and cultural exchange. Since its foundation in 2016, the school has hosted many wonderful speeches by famous scholars and organized various programs for academic and cultural exchange, as Prof. Chen mentioned. These activities have been widely praised and the summer school has been continuously improving its influence.

Prof. Tao Deng, Vice Dean of SMSE, encouraged students to try and challenge themselves by participating in various activities and hoped students can benefit more from the summer school.

Lecturer representative, Professor Hong Wang, who participated a second time in the Zhi-Hong ISS, hoped that students could get to know the latest progress, research hotspots, and development of Advanced Functional Materials through the summer school lectures.

Zhenyang Gao, a student from SJTU-SMSE, made a speech as representative of the students. He introduced the humanistic style and daily life in Shanghai and SJTU based on his study and life experience. Finally, he introduced the social software commonly used in daily life to facilitate the communication between the students.

After the speeches, online group photos of all participators are taken to preserve the precious memory.

Prof. Peng Zhang, the principal of this summer school, then introduced the relevant situation of SJTU-SMSE and Zhi-Hong ISS to the students, including the teachers, students, activities and other contents of this summer school. In the end, a well-organized quiz session with prizes was held, through which the students learned about the general situation of the school, the history of the college and the interesting knowledge about Shanghai. The students showed great ambitions in participating the interaction session.

Zhi-Hong ISS has been held annually since 2016. It is the 6th SJTU-SMSE in 2021, also the 2nd online summer school. Zhi-Hong ISS continues to bring forth new ideas to its educational mode, provides great opportunities for learning the frontiers of scientific research in advanced materials, and builds a platform for the students with different cultures to interact and learn from each other.