At the invitation from the Nouvel Institut Franco Chinois in Lyon, France, Vice president of Tongji University GU Xianglin paid a working visit to France from September 25 - 28, 2017. During his visit, GU attended the second Sino-French Cultural Forum, themed ‘One Belt and One Road: the Convergence and Sharing of Sino-French Culture’, and visited the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA de Lyon) in cooperation with Tongji University.

GU visited to the INSA de Lyon on September 28th when he, with the introduction by the director, Mr. Jacques, was acquainted with the PROVADEMSE platform (a machine possessing technologies for the cleaning of waste water, raw materials, renewable materials and energy pollution) on the campus. Meanwhile, he also held an in-depth discussion with the French representatives on such concerns as technologies and the potential for cooperation in scientific research between the two universities. Later, Gu and his companions also visited the DEEP Laboratory (one that centers on the disposal of solid waste, water and environmental pollution), and held a working conference with the representatives from the International Cooperation Department and the Department of Civil Engineering and Urban Planning. In the conference, they sorted out all the recently to-be-conducted cooperation projects between the two universities and specified the work schedule for the coming stage.