Chern Institute of Mathematics ( CIM * ) was founded through the initiative of the late Professor S. S. Chern, who was also the first director of the Institute until 1992. The current director is Yiming Long, a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Nobel Prize laureate C. N. Yang founded the section of theoretical physics* in the Institute in 1986. Molin Ge, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the chairman of this section.

Nankai University is one of the major universities in China and is located in Tianjin, the fourth largest city in China. The city is 120 km southeast of Beijing which can be reached by the intercity trains in 40 minutes.