I am Richard Peto from University of Oxford, UK. I am honored to receive the prestigious Chinese Government Friendship Award. Ever since my early visits to China I have had the privilege of working closely with many distinguished medical scientists in China. This has been an exciting chapter in my academic life. My first visit to China was over 30 years ago, as economic reforms and the open door policy were just beginning. Beijing then was very different; streets were full of bicycles rather than cars, there were piles of winter