Challenges and renewal

As China opened up more in the 1990s, the society faced mounting competition from commercial travel companies, while universities, cultural institutes, and other organizations began offering their own China-related events.

The rise of the internet and social media since the 2000s has also dented the readership of the society's publication, which now has subscriptions of only around 300.

Yet, with its unique history, prominent members, and high-level connections, SACU still has the ability to "punch above its weight," many attendees at the 60th anniversary event said.

In recent years, SACU has extended its presence in the UK through partnerships and events in Cambridge, Manchester, and Humberside, as well as London. At the same time, it has strengthened ties with organizations in China.

Education was one of the areas that Zoe Reed tried to steer SACU toward. Reed, who has served as SACU chair since 2009, outlined the organization's next five-year plan.

"We really want to be promoting education in partnerships. We need to get some strategic partners because we've all got to work together to create the context for a warmer reception for China and the Chinese people in this country."

One of SACU's flagship projects is a joint essay competition with Peking University that encourages UK high school students to research topics such as overcoming cultural gaps between China and the West, taking a historical view of China-UK relations, or exploring the concept of "harmony" in different cultures.

Sun Hua, director of Peking University's China Center for Edgar Snow Studies, was a partner on the project. He said the number of participating schools had expanded since the competition was launched at Needham's alma mater, Oundle School, Peterborough, in 2015.

"If we don't understand the past, we will have little hope of mastering the future," said Sun, who flew to London and presented awards to the student winners at the SACU anniversary. "I am very glad to be here to continue Joseph Needham's great work of increasing harmony and understanding between the Chinese and British People."

SACU has also set up an education fund to assist in the vocational training of people in cooperative business methods in rural Northwest China.

The fund was named in memory of George Hogg, a British journalist, friend of Needham, and the headmaster of the Bailie School in Shuangshipu, Shaanxi province, who dedicated his life to aiding the country during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).

In 1944, to escape the threat of conflict, Hogg led over 60 students on a perilous trek westward from Shuangshipu to Shandan, a remote town in neighboring Gansu province, where they continued their studies. Tragically, on July 22, 1945, Hogg died from tetanus in Shandan.