The 28^th CCS Congress was held on April 13-16, 2012, at Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. During the congress, a celebration for the 80th anniversary of the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS, 1932-2012) was organized. This is the most important professional congress in China, focused on basic research and applications of Chemistry. The congress included 19 individual sessions and 9 specific forums. More than 4000 people, including scientists, researchers, lab technicians, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from different universities, institutes, and different countries attended the congress. There were 1336 presentations, including 6 plenary lectures, 557 invited lectures, 773 oral presentations, and 2625 poster presentations.

The Analytical Chemistry Session was organized by Prof. Xiandeng Hou and Prof. Yi Lv from College of Chemistry, Sichuan University. The chairman of the session was Prof. Hongyuan Chen (Academician of CAS, Najing University), and the vice chairman was Prof. Xiurong Yang in Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, CAS. It was mainly devoted to recent developments in atomic spectroscopy, molecular spectroscopy, electroanalysis, chromatography, nanoscience-based analysis, and new analytical instruments. More than 300 people attended the session. It consisted of 130 presentations, including 38 invited lectures and 92 oral presentations, as well as 186 posters. This congress has provided an opportunity for the academic exchange, and will further promote the development of chemistry in China.

The Beijing Mass Spectrometry Annual Meeting 2011 was organized by Beijing Physical & Chemistry Testing Technology Society and Beijing Society for Mass Spectrometry on March 30, 2012. During the meeting, the Fifth Atomic Spectroscopy Workshop of China was held. This is the fist professional workshop in China focused on basic research and applications of atomic spectroscopy, which was initiated by Zhi Xing in Tsinghua University Analysis Center. The workshop aims at providing an opportunity for the academic exchange, creating a close cooperation in a relaxing way, in the hope of promoting the development of analytical chemistry. Since 2010, the workshop has been held five times. The conventioneers, including scientists, researchers, and lab technicians of atomic spectrometry, come mainly from Analysis Center of Tsinghua University, Institute of High Energy Physics Chinese Academy of Science, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Science, National Institute of Metrology P.R. China, General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals, National Research Center for Geoanalysis, CNNC Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology and some instrument manufacturers of China.

The latest research progress, experience on instrument usage, instrumental development, and applications in pharmaceutical, food, environmental and petrochemical analysis, among other fields, have been discussed in the workshop. In addition, relationships have been built on the sharing of standardized samples and special instruments, as well as on interlaboratory comparisons. This workshop is a key contributor for the development of atomic spectrometry analysis in China.