On Sep. 27, Prof. Mr Wenner Zorn paid a visit to .CN ccTLD Registry---China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). Accompanied by Mr.Mao Wei, the Director General of CNNIC, he visited the IDC of CNNIC and also the first .CN ccTLD name server. They together reviewed the two milestone events in the early Internet cooperation between China and Germany: registration of China's national level top domain name-.CN and completion in installation of .CN ccTLD name server in China.

In Prof. Wenner Zorn's memory, before the .CN TLD name server returned to China in May 1994, there were only 24 registrations for .CN domain names. While according to the latest statistics, as of August 2007, the number of .CN domain name registrations has reached 6.7 million in China. .CN domain name has become the second largest ccTLDs in the world as well as the mainstream domain name for China in both registration and users' number. During the exchange, Prof. Zorn expressed his heartfelt marvel at the rapid growth of CN domain name and Internet in China.

Prof. Wenner Zorn witnessed the early internet cooperation between China and Germany. On Nov. 28, 1990 with the assistance of such international friends as Prof. Wenner Zorn, the registration of China's top level domain name-.CN was completed and Mr. Qian Tianbai served as administrative contactor. Since China had not realized fully the connection with international internet back then, China's .CN TLD name server was temporarily placed in University Karlsruhe, Germany. On May 21st 1994, with the help of University Karlsruhe, Germany where Prof. Wenner Zorn stayed then, the Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences completed the installation of China's .CN TLD name server and thereby ended the situation where .CN TLD name server had been deployed abroad. Mr. Qian Tianbai and Mr. Qian Hualin served respectively as administrative contactor and technical contactor.

At the end of the visit, CNNIC Director General Mao Wei presented Prof. Wenner Zorn with a seal to express gratitude for his contributions to the Internet in China.


Background

Wenner Zorn was born in 1942. From 1962 to 1967 he studied in the Department of Electronics Engineering in University Karlsruhe, Germany and completed his Master Degree of Engineering. In 1971, he received his Doctor's Degree in Engineering. He served as director of Information Computer Center (IRA) from 1972. From 1979 he served as professor in the Department of Computer Science in University Karlsruhe. From June 2001, he began to serve as Director of Hasso-Plattner-Institute in the Hasso-Plattner college of University Potsdam.

On August 2nd, 1984, through his persistent efforts, Germany for the first time was connected to the internal internet. And he also became the first person in Germany to send email, for which he was awarded the Federation Verdienstkreuz by the German president in 2006.