On March 14th, a batch of KN95 face masks with “TENETE DURO” (Stay Strong) in both Italian and Chinese printed on the boxes were delivered by international courier and will arrive in Italy soon. The masks were donated by the Sino-Italian Center for Sustainability, Tongji University.
Since the coronavirus outbreak in Italy, people from the Sino-Italian Center for Sustainability have shown much concern to the situation in Italy. The director of the Center and his colleagues responded quickly to collect anti-epidemic materials. They contacted the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea(IMELS), the Italian Consulate General in Shanghai and the Italian Red Cross to express their strong wish for help. When learning that Italy is in short supply of protective masks, the Center managed to collect 6,000 KN95 facial masks through joint efforts with the Sino-Italian Ningbo Ecological Park to assist Italy in its virus prevention and control.
Tongji University's cooperation with Italy originated from the exchanges between Chinese and Italian professors in the 1980s. Since the Sino-Italian Campus of Tongji University was established in 2006, cooperation has been going on between governments, industries and universities. Friendship has developed in jointly cultivating outstanding talents for both countries. The Sino-Italian Center for Sustainability was established in 2012 by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea in cooperation with Tongji University. It is the fruit of international cooperation between China and Italy in the field of green sustainability and global sustainable development. It aims at contributing to the further development in science, culture, economics, education and sustainable development between China and Italy through creating a high-end platform for technical communication, talent training and technology transfer between the two countries.
A month ago, when the virus was spreading fast in China, a large number of "virus-fighters" rushed to the front line of the battle against the epidemic. Colzani Andrea, an Italian young man from the Sino-Italian Center for Sustainability, chose to stay in China and helped Chinese people in the fight against the coronavirus by managing to ship anti-epidemic materials from Italy to China with the coordinated help of various organization in Italy. When the coronavirus broke out in Italy, he went back to his home country immediately and helped build a channel of communication between China and Italy.
At present, Tongji University is actively involved in engaging resources from all parties through its Sino-Italy cooperation platform to make contributions to the global efforts in containing the virus.
The year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Italy. The coronavirus outbreak further witnesses the friendship between China and Italy. People of both countries have responded to the initiative of "One Belt One Road", and "building a community of shared future for mankind" with actions.
Source：https://news.tongji.edu.cn/info/1002/73029.htm
