The 7th International Conference on Dendrochronology was held from June 12 to 17 in Beijing. Under the auspices of the Tree-Ring Society and the Association for Tree-Ring Research, this conference was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation, CAS and Past Global Changes, and hosted by the CAS Institute of Botany in conjunction with Working Group 5.01.07, Tree Ring Analysis of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations. The quadrennial meeting is regarded as the most authoritative one in the scientific discipline of dating past events in the environment by study of tree ring growth. It was held for the first time in Asia, attracting more than 270 scholars from 35 countries across the world (including 70 from China).