The First International Conference on Semigroups and its Related Topics, held in Kunming, China, 1995, celebrated the establishment of the Institute of Pure Mathematics at Yunnan University, Kunming. The event attracted mathematicians from around the world, who contributed talks and papers on the new developments of semigroups and its applications. These included topics on algebraic semigroups, combinatorial semigroups, computer languages, codings, and universal algebras. Since the conference, the papers have been re-edited, and in some cases revised, and are now cummulated into this review volume, making it a lasting reference book on the development of semigroup theory. Some survey articles written by experts in the field, and which were not presented at the conference, are also included in this book.