The article presents information about Natural Gas Conversion VII, an international symposium held in Dalian, Liaoning Sheng, China, from June 6-10, 2004. The Dalian symposium gathered some 450 participants from 26 countries, including five scientists from Russia. There were 110 oral reports, including 40 from China, and 90 poster papers. The materials presented at the symposium demonstrated that gas conversion science has made rapid progress in recent years. New technologies and catalysts have been developed, and there has been growing aspiration to realize the industrial application of scientific achievements.