Six scientists from the People's Republic of China visited the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics on Monday as part of a one-month tour of American scientific institutions.

The complete delegation of 12 scientists represents "the highest ranking delegation of its kind the Chinese have ever sent," Frank Press, chairman of MIT's Earth Sciences department and chairman of the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China (CSCPRC), which is sponsoring the delegation's visit, said yesterday.

President Ford received the group in Washington on September 27.

Members of the delegation met with Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicists to discuss common research interests, and Chang Ho-Chi, professor at "Purple Mountain" Observatory, lectured on the solar corona on Monday.

Rulan Chao Pian '44, co-master of South House and professor of East Asian Languages and Civilization, invited four of the delegation to dine in Cabot dining hall followed by discussion with students. All the delegates spent the night as guests in faculty homes.

Six other members of the delegation spent Monday and Tuesday at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. They will rejoin the group today for a discussion with Harvard and MIT scientists on science organization and policy.

Since 1972 the CSCPRC has hosted 18 other delegations from China and sent 14. The Committee was established jointly in 1969 by the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Academy of Sciences and the Social Science Research Council