The 16th National Conference on Residual Stress was held in Xi'an from October 8 to 13, 2011. Hosted by the Air Force Engineering University (Science and Technology on Plasma Dynamics Laboratory), the event was jointly organized by the Materials, Failure Analysis, Surface Engineering, and Physical and Chemical Testing branches of the China Mechanical Engineering Society, as well as the X-ray Diffraction Committee of the Chinese Physical Society. The conference was attended by 262 representatives from 175 domestic and international institutions.