On April 22th, 2023, the 2023 Annual Conference of Hubei Provincial Population Society was successfully held in the Science Hall of Central China Normal University in Wuhan. The conference was hosted and organized by Hubei Provincial Population Society and the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences of Central China Normal University. More than 180 population scholars from 19 universities and organizations both within and outside the province, including the Hubei Provincial Health Commission, Wuhan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Huazhong Agricultural University, and others, attended the conference. The conference explored and discussed the issue of “Population Development in Chinese Modernization” in the context of the new era, and was dedicated to promoting the prosperity of population science and writing a new chapter in the development of population science in China. Associate Professor Zeyu Zhang and master's student Xuejing Zheng from the Macro Agricultural Research Institute of Huazhong Agricultural University were invited to the conference.

Associate Professor Zeyu Zhang was invited to be a commentator in the 1st sub-forum “Fertility Topics” and delivered a commentary speech. He had an in-depth discussion with the speakers on the balanced development of population, model of fertility behavior, property income, fertility intention, peer effect, etc., and made corresponding suggestions for modification.

Xuejing Zheng, a master's student, presented a report titled “Does Education Reduce Female Fertility Penalty?” in Sub-forum 9, where experts and scholars fully affirmed her research and made suggestions for improvement.