Zhu Xing is the Deputy Director of the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, a professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of Physics of Peking University. He graduated from the University of Toronto, Canada with a master's degree in Applied Sciences in 1983; he graduated from the University of Saarland with a doctorate in Natural Sciences in 1986. His research interests include near-field optics, near-field optical microscopy, and near-field spectroscopy. In recent years, he has been mainly engaged in research on the synthesis, structure, physical and chemical properties of transition metal composite oxides, new VUV fluorescent materials, new microporous borates, and rare earth-transition metal intermetallic compounds. He has undertaken or is currently undertaking general projects and key projects sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, National Climb projects, National Program on Key Basic Research Project, and 863 projects. In 1995, he won the second prize in Science and Technology of the Chinese National Education Commission, and he has published more than 80 academic papers. He is the editor ofInorganic Chemistryand theChinese Journal of Luminescencet. He is the Deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Education, a member of the Science Material Scientific Teaching Steering Committee, the Director of the Special Ceramics Branch Committee of the Chinese Silicate Society, and the Director of the Luminous Branch of the Chinese Physical Society. He was funded in 1997 by the National Outstanding Youth Fund. He has chaired international conferences on Near-Field Optics and Nano-Optics (1999, 2002, 2004), and served as the Deputy Editor ofChinese PhysicsandPhysica Sinica.