China has revealed 15 most influential foreigners for their contributions to the country's development over the past three decades on November 29, 2008. John L. Thornton, Guest Professor at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences won the honor.

The list of 15 “most influential overseas experts in China over the past three decades” was announced in Shenzhen at the opening of an international talent forum -- the 2008 Conference on International Exchange of Professionals in Shenzhen. The list includes specialists in public health, science, construction, management, education, media and farming, according International Talent Monthly, a periodical owned by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.

International Talent Monthly invited a panel of 38 judges to narrow the list down to 15 from 29 candidates.

John L. Thornton was Retired President and Member of the Board of Directors of the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. He has been the member of Tsinghua SEM's Advisory Board since 2000. He has been served as Guest Professor and Director of the Global Leadership Program at Tsinghua SEM since 2003. He received the 2008 Friendship Award in September.

Those mentioned also include Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei, who designed the Fragrant Hill Hotel on the outskirts of Beijing and the Bank of China building in Hong Kong in the 1980s. In 2004, he designed the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C ;.Chinese-American Nobel physics laureates Yang Chen-ning and Lee Tsung-dao are on the list as is Ian Fok Chun-wan from Hong Kong, a management and training professional. Also named were Hain Verbruggen, Netherlands, chairman of the International Olympic Committee Coordination Commission for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games; Robert A. Mundell, Canada, Nobel Prize Winner who served as a key advisor to the Bank of China; Henk Bekedam, Netherlands, a former World Health Organization's chief representative in China; Werner Gerich, Germany, the first foreigner to head a Chinese venture since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949; Others include German Susan Sabriya Tenberken, a training professional for the blind, Japanese statesman Morihiko Hiramatsu, Japanese agriculturists Toyama Seiei and Hara Shoich, Israeli doctor Moris Topaz, and New Zealander Edwin Charles Maher, an anchor with China Central Television's English Channel (CCTV-9).