Ruan Yisan'RHF President,Professor Ruan Yisan.Dircctor of National ResearchCenter of Historic City at Tongji University,isemeritus professor of Urban Planning at the College ofArchitecture and Urban Planning,Tongji University.He is also a member of the Urban Planning ExpertCommittee of the Ministry of Construction,theNational Conservation Expert Committee of HistoricCities,and Vice Director of the Academic Committeeof HistorjC Cities.Professor Ruan Yisan has been working as a consultantfor many historic cities such as Suzhou,Yangzhou,Hangzhou,Shaoxing,Pingyao,and Lijiang. Hehas made a major contribution to the education andresearch of urban development history and urbanheritage conservation.He has helped safeguard manyhistoric cities and towns from imprudent developmentand made them important heritage sites throughconservation planning and practice,such as Pingyao,Zhouzhuang,Tongli,Luzhi,Nanxun,Wuzhen,andXitang.Under his supervision,the project of the Yangtze RiverWater Towns(including Zhouzhuang,Tongli,Luzhi,Nanxun,Wuzhen and Xitang)was granted the Awardof Distinction by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific HeritageAwards for Culture Heritage Conservation in 2003.In 2005,Professor Ruan Yisan was awarded a KnightMetal of Art and Literature by the Dench Ministry ofCulture.