On May 11th, 2019 (April 7th, 2019 in the lunar calendar), Rong Baisheng, an academician who designed "China's tallest building", passed away. Rong Baisheng, a master of Chinese architectural structure, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and a master of Chinese engineering design, died in Guangzhou at 4:50 on May 11, 2019 at the age of 90. According to public information, Rong Baisheng was born in a military family in Guangzhou in 1930. His ancestral home is Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province. He graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering of South China Institute of Technology (now South China University of Technology) in 1953 and was the first graduate of the school. In 1989, he was awarded the title of "Master of Chinese Engineering Design" by the former Ministry of Construction. In 1995, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He once recalled that he was born in the war era, and his father was a senior Kuomintang officer. During War of Resistance against Japan, his mother wandered around with several children. He studied in the Department of Civil Engineering of Lingnan University in September 1949. After the establishment of South China Institute of Technology in 1952, Rong Baisheng became the first graduate of the school. During his studies, his father went to Taiwan Province, and the family lost its source of income. Rong Baisheng was exempted from tuition fees by the school because of his excellent grades. At the same time, he worked as a physical education teacher in the primary school attached to Lingnan University. After graduation, Rong Baisheng was assigned to Guangdong Architectural Design Company, and was promoted to engineer after only three years of work. In the middle and late 1960s, he suffered a low point in his life, was labeled as a "reactionary academic authority", criticized and sent to the countryside. In 1972, he gradually resumed work, was promoted to chief engineer, and designed the 15-storey Maritime Bureau Building in Guangzhou, which was a rare high-rise building at the time. After the 1980s, Rong Baisheng ushered in a golden period of his career: the Shenzhen Asia Hotel, which he presided over the design, became a landmark in Shenzhen at that time and won the 1989 Ministerial Science and Technology Progress Award of the former Ministry of Construction; The 200-meter-high, 63-storey Guangdong International Building, which presided over the design, became the tallest building in China at that time and the building with the most prestressed floors in the world. It won the National Excellent Design Gold Award, the Second Prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award, and the "Zhan Tianyou Award" of China Civil Engineering. Guangdong International Building In 1995, Rong Baisheng became the first batch of academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering. In addition, he has also served as a member of the Expert Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, an advisory member of the National Expert Committee on Seismic Fortification of High-rise architectural engineering of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Director of the Expert Committee on Seismic Fortification of High-rise architectural engineering of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Deputy Chairman of the Technical Committee of the Guangzhou Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. The reporter noticed that in 2016, Rong Baisheng returned to his alma mater, South China University of Technology, and summed up his "twelve-character proverbs" in life: he must seek a good solution, make progress despite difficulties, and strive for excellence. He told the students of his alma mater: Whether you are studying or working, especially in the construction industry, you must be familiar with and understand every process, and do things honestly step by step in a down-to-earth manner. "Forget what you don't understand when reading? Can't count! Every problem you encounter has to be solved by every means. When you do everything possible to finally solve it, you also break through yourself and improve yourself." In his spare time, Rong Baisheng is still an optimistic person with wide interests. According to comprehensive reports, he loved sports when he was a teenager, was a member of the school basketball team, and also studied boxing, weightlifting and platform diving. After retiring in his later years, he would sing karaoke at home, "mainly English songs from 1950s and 1960s".