The first International Symposium on Gravitational Waves (ISGW2017) was held from May 26 to 28 on the Yanqi campus of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China. Nearly 120 participants from 11 countries and over 66 universities, institutions and international organizations attended the symposium. This symposium has been paid great attention by the Chinese Academy of Sciences，Ministry of Science and Technology，National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The main topics of the symposium include
• Gravitational Wave Physics
• Missions, Strategies and Plans of Gravitational Wave Detection
• Frontiers of Science and Technology in Gravitational Wave Detection
• International Collaborations on Gravitational Wave Detection

The aim of the symposium is to bring together leading experts in gravitational wave physics and gravitational wave detection to present the latest research advances and to discuss possible collaborations on gravitational wave detection. During the three-day symposium, 55 scientists (23 invited speakers and 22 parallel speakers) gave their wonderful talks. As the science and education area of the “one nuclear four area” of Huairou Science City, UCAS has attracted the attention of the world’s gravitational wave researchers for Huairou Science City this time.

AsChinese Academy of Sciences has previously announced, UCAS is also the relying on unit of Chinese “Taiji Program” in Space. More than ten domestic scientific research institutions haveset up “Taiji Union” (Consortium of Gravitational Wave Detection Program in Space) during this symposium.

Since the frequency of the gravitational wave signal is between 35Hz and 250Hz (the human ear can capture the sound frequency of 20Hz-20000Hz), we can use the ear to hear the magic of the gravitational wave. “The era of GW Astronomy has come, let’s start listening to the sounds of the cosmic jungle!” As professor Bernard F. Schutz said in the talk, the direct detection of gravitational waves opens a new window to explore our universe and indicates the coming of a new era of gravitational-wave astronomy.