2023-12-31-accounts

2023 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTS

Registered Office: 15a Napoleon Road, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, TW1 3EW Registered Charity No. 294651 Registered Company 876179

The Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU) is a voluntary, non-profit, people-to-people organisation that has been dedicated to promoting understanding and friendship between the peoples of the UK and China since our founding, by Dr. Joseph Needham and others, in 1965. SACU is a member-based organisation. We have no political affiliations and are open to all who subscribe to our aims.

Our mission

SACU’s mission is to promote understanding and advance the education of the UK public in all aspects of China and the Chinese People by:

• providing facts and analysis about China, not uncritically but always from a firm basis of friendship.

• helping the British people to understand the meaning of China, past and present.

• promoting friendship and mutual respect between the peoples of China and the UK.

Understanding for a purpose

• to help the UK flourish in a world increasingly influenced by China.

• to help overcome misplaced suspicion and increase understanding of China within UK.

• to help members progress their China-related interests and so to help SACU thrive.

SACU also has a role in helping to support people from China making their way in the UK as students and workers, with friendship and understanding as well as education in all aspects of living in UK.

Chair’s Summary (Chris Nash) ................................................................................................................. 3 Executive Committee .............................................................................................................................. 4 Public Education & Cooperation with External Partners ........................................................................ 6 SACU Publications ................................................................................................................................... 7 Digital Media ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Council of Management and Executive Committee as of June 2024 ................................................... 10 Annual Accounts ................................................................................................................................... 11

Chair’s Summary (Chris Nash)

I was appointed Chair by the SACU Council in April 2023, before being formally elected by the SACU membership at the AGM in September 2023. I am deeply grateful to my predecessor Zoë Reed for the dedication and vision with which she served SACU as Chair for the past 14 years. I hope to build on her work of adapting SACU to face the unique challenges and opportunities of promoting Anglo-Chinese friendship in the modern world.

During my first year as Chair of SACU, I have been consistently impressed by the way that SACU members have furthered our mission of promoting friendship and understanding between the British and Chinese people. We are a member-driven organisation which runs on the ideas and needs of all our colleagues.

SACU works to promote friendship between British and Chinese people. In particular, we should congratulate Walter Fung for his enduring dedication to the regular production of China Eye, which promotes understanding of China through its consistently interesting articles. Special thanks are due to Iris Yau, who demonstrated SACU’s opposition to all forms of racism though her contribution to the ‘Standing up to Sinophobia’ demonstration. I’d also like to thank all members who have contributed to the two Working Groups that we set up this year.

Additionally, SACU works to promote a broader understanding of China and Chinese culture. I hope that you all had a chance to listen to the speech made by Frances Wood at the Evolution of Chinese Characters event. This year saw the launch of the SACU digital archives, making the history of SACU’s contributions to Anglo-Chinese relations available to researchers and members of the public. Thank-you to Fang Wang, Zoë Reed, ZHAO Chunbin and LI Linxi for their work in ensuring that the Archives Project is financed in a sustainable way. And finally, we must once again thank Ros Wong for her devoted service to keeping the whole organisation cohesive through her Membership Secretary role.

Looking ahead to the coming year, I hope we can continue to develop services for SACU members. We held two in-person events in Manchester in 2023-24: a guided tour of the Manchester Museum Chinese Culture Gallery led by SACU member Dr Fang Zong; and a special event for SACU members at SACU Councillor Iris Yau’s ‘Infamous: Opium, Silk, Tea and the Mission’ exhibition at the Portico Library. I would love to see us hosting even more live events. I have made contact with interesting people who would love to share their ideas about friendship between China and the UK with us. I anticipate that we can continue to be a significant force in promoting education as a key bridge between China and the UK. I hope we can build on the links I have created with the British Council and the Mandarin Excellence Programme. I would love SACU to be able to promote opportunities for student exchanges between the UK and China. I deeply appreciate the support for student visits around our Essay Competition offered by Peking University.

In summary, SACU is a progressive organisation which understands that friendly relations between the people of the UK and those of China are pivotal in a changing world.

As we say in China, ‘望子成龙’( wàngzǐ-chénglóng) - let’s hope that all the new generation turn out to be dragons! Which seems very appropriate for ‘the Year of the Dragon’.

Executive Committee

The executive committee is responsible for implementing the decisions of the SACU Council. In 2023, we welcomed ZHAO Chunbin to the executive committee. She joined existing committee members Chris Nash, Zoë Reed, Ros Wong and Jacob Holliday. Project Teams Coordinator Arron Van Rompaey stepped down from the Executive Committee at the end of 2023 following his relocation to Nanjing.

Secretary (Jacob Holliday)

SACU’s conversion to a CIO was effected in January 2024, thanks in no small part Zoë Reed’s efforts in navigating the various bureaucratic hurdles involved. This change will streamline the process for submitting our Annual Reports to the Charities Commission. It also provided the opportunity to update SACU’s constitution. For instance, the updated constitution contains provisions for hosting virtual or hybrid AGM meetings, something that was not envisaged when our original Articles of Association were drafted in 1965! SACU’s goals and organisational structure remain unchanged.

Over the course of 2023-24, several Council members stepped down from operational roles due to personal commitments. This has severely restricted the Council’s capacity to organise events for the benefit of SACU members. Going forward, SACU urgently needs to recruit an events team who can facilitate future SACU activities.

Treasurer (ZHAO Chunbin)

In September 2022, Imtiyaz Basharat announced that he would be stepping down as Treasurer pending the appointment of a successor. The Council was pleased to coopt ZHAO Chunbin as Treasurer at the Council meeting of April 2023.

SACU’s primary stream of income is membership subscriptions, supplemented by occasional one-time donations. In the past, this has more than covered SACU’s normal operational costs. SACU’s main recurring costs are the publication of the China Eye magazine, license fees for hosting online events, and venue-hire fees for AGMs and other in-person events.

The launch of the SACU Archive Website entails an additional annual expense of over £4000 in licence fees, payable for the next six years. In the absence of additional revenue, this would have caused SACU to run a net deficit during this period. Fortunately, Peking University has negotiated directly with the Archives hosting company to cover all these costs. This means SACU will not incur any future revenue costs with the Archive company. In small recognition of the benefit this represents, SACU Council is happy to grant access to the full archives to Peking University staff and students to further their Anglo-Chinese research and understanding.

In the year ending 31st December 2023, SACU ran a deficit of £4567. A more detailed breakdown of SACU’s finances can be found in the Annual Accounts at the bottom of this document.

Membership Secretary (Ros Wong)

SACU welcomed 47 new members during the year. After accounting for lapsed and resigned memberships, this resulted in a slight decrease in membership, down to a total of 293 active members by December 2023. We noted with sadness the deaths of Francis Moll in April (also Trustee/ Director and Secretary of The Meridian Society) and Emeritus Professor Bob Benewick (SACU member since 1975) in July.

We continued to offer a year’s complimentary membership to all our student Essay Competition entrants, and to speakers and panellists. High profile speakers who accepted our offer of membership this year included the wonderful GUO family of Yi, Amanda and Toto, after their presentation at our 2022 AGM; and translators Nicky Harman and Helen Wang following their discussion on “The Role of Translation in Increasing Understanding”.

Our largest class of members are ‘Individual’ members (39%), followed by ‘Retired/ Unwaged’ (34.5%). Most of our members are based in the UK (261) but we have several international members in China (15) and other parts of the world (17), including several European countries, USA, Canada, Australia, India, and New Zealand.

The most common means by which new members discover SACU is through word of mouth or by attending a SACU event. New members expressed a wide range of reasons for joining SACU. Mentioned most often were interests in Culture, (including Language, Literature, Music and Film); Modern History; Current Affairs; International Relations including Anglo-Chinese relations; Education; and Family Connections.

At the end of 2023, 13 ‘SACU Veterans’ remained who joined in 1960s and 1970s and all together there were 48 members who joined in the last century! Their support over all these years is much appreciated.

Public Education & Cooperation with External Partners

One of SACU’s core objectives is to improve the British people’s understanding of China. We promote this goal by organising SACU speaker events and seminars, by collaborating with external partners; and through the Speakers’ Bureau, which arranges to send speakers to British schools.

Partnerships (Iris Yau)

For the third year running, I led the SACU delegation at the March Against Sinophobia in London. I spoke on stage on behalf of the Society, receiving fantastic responses from the audience. SACU featured heavily in CGTN World News and other media coverage of the rally.

In early 2024 I organised a private viewing and tour for SACU members to see my exhibition ‘Infamous: Opium, Silk, Tea and the Mission’ at the Portico Gallery and Library, Manchester. SACU are listed as one of the official supporters of the exhibition. I offered free tickets for members to access ‘Infamous’ related events in Manchester and organised an event for SACU members at the Silk Museum in Macclesfield.

SACU members continue to enjoy a range of benefits through our partnerships with like-minded organisations: discounts on books purchases from Guanghwa Bookshop, China Exchange UK, and Sinoist Books; free tickets for the KCL/Lau China Institute China Week; and free/ reduced price tickets to attend events organised by the Meridian Society, the Chopsticks Club, and Young China Watchers. This year, we are also working with the Ming-Ai (London) Institute, the British Chinese Heritage Centre, and Mother’s Bridge of Love to cross-promote events enhancing friendship and understanding between the British and Chinese people.

I attended the following events on behalf of SACU this year.

• Campaign for Anti-Racism Group (CARG) re-launch at Birmingham (October 2023)

• Global China Dialogue Conference 2024 at the British Academy (October 2023)

• Global China Academy 10th Anniversary Reception and Dinner at the House of Lords (with Barnaby and Frances Wood - October 2023)

• Remember the Chinese Labour Crop in Whitehall on Armistice Day 2024 (November 2023)

• Dr Yeow Poon’s funeral (Founder of Birmingham Chinese Community Centre, coChair Chinese Welfare Trust, Founder of CARG) in Birmingham (January 2024)

I will continue to use my skill and network to modernise the society and join the dots to promote friendship and understanding between the British and Chinese people on behalf of SACU.

Public Education (Barnaby Powell)

As part of SACU’s Public Education initiative, our main aim has been to give talks on China to schools, universities and other groups. Talks have been given to independent schools in the past year. Building on our experience with schools known to us for having participated in the SACU Essay Competition, we have made progress in identifying State schools which may be interested in a talk on China with the assistance of BACS (British Association of Chinese Studies). Our Speakers’ Bureau now numbers seven volunteers prepared to cover different regions of the UK.

Essay Competition (WANG Fang)

The 2023 7[th] annual PKU-SACU essay competition had the theme of ‘Harmony’. With the scope of the competition was enlarged to include multimedia submissions, this year’s competition will see entries including paintings, photos, and videos, as well as written essays.

Essay competition coordinator WANG Fang contacted schools in both the UK and China to encourage participation from a wider range of students. Additionally, she entered negotiations with Chinese educational institutions with the aim that, with their support, SACU will be able to offer to prize-winners the opportunity to conduct a field trip to China to on the subject of China-UK relations. It is hoped that this will inspire young people to contribute to the promotion of China-UK people-to-people relationships.

All members of SACU are invited to share information about the upcoming 2024 SACU-PKU Essay Competition with local schools in both the UK and China.

SACU Publications

China Eye (Walter Fung)

As relations between West and China remain fraught, British press coverage tends to emphasise the negative aspects of China. In an effort to promote more nuanced and balanced coverage, China Eye continues to highlight positive news about China and Anglo-Chinese relations.

Chine Eye articles have dealt with a wide range of historical, cultural and touristic subjects. I am always grateful to authors of articles, which are the life blood of China Eye. I encourage members to send in articles on any aspect of China and Chinese culture.

We continue to publish mixture of Chinese and English language articles. Special thanks to Iris Yau, SUN Yong and LI Jiaxi for supporting these articles. In addition, LI Jiaxi has translated some articles from Chinese to English.

China Eye has been enriched by contributions from many new authors, Chinese and British, including Theresa Booth (Chopsticks Club), Marion Carlisle, GU Hongyan, Christy Leung, SHI Yichao, XING Yi, and ZONG Weien.

Also, many thanks are due to the regular contributors Andrew Beck, Jacqueline Buksh, James de Burghe, Andrew Hicks, David Law, Chris Nash, Barnaby Powell, Zoë Reed, Bryan Sitch, Rob Stallard, Ros Wong, ZONG Fang, and XU Minji.

Keith Bennett has continued to send in hyperlinks to important news items, Cilla Hollman has continued to proofread Sino File, and LI Jiaxi has prepared the PDF for the printers. I am very grateful for these valuable contributions, and indeed to everyone who has helped in some way over the past year.

SACU Newsletter (Ros Wong)

The monthly newsletter is circulated to all members by email. It promotes SACU events, forthcoming China-related events organised by SACU partners and other organisations, and selected, relevant articles in the media, including ‘Green China’. It also carries news of SACU members and notices of opportunities for SACU members to get involved in SACU’s work in various capacities. In March a member survey gave members the chance to say what they would like to see SACU focus on for the year ahead.

All members are welcome to contribute recent articles. We thank several members for their contributions, notably Keith Bennett for sending in links to articles in the media every month.

There were changes of editors during the year. Michael Sheringham and Peter Farrar were co-editors until June when Michael stood down. Peter continued to September, handing over to Ros Wong and then Oliver Harris as a guest editor to the end of 2023. Thanks are due to Michael Sheringham who curated the newsletter for about three years. His consistent input each month to keep members up to date with China-related events and media coverage was much appreciated. We must also thank Peter Farrar who carried on single-handedly until stepping down at the AGM, and Oliver Harris who produced the last issues of the year. 2023 ended without a regular newsletter editor.

As well as the editor’s work in compiling the content, there is technical work in adding the items to Mailchimp ready for circulation. Going into 2024, volunteers are needed to take on both tasks on a regular basis for the newsletter to continue.

SACU Archives (LI Linxi)

Our Archive Project has progressed to its second phase in mid-2023, following fieldwork and extensive discussions among Zoë, Frances, Fang, Linxi, and other Council members.

During visits to the Needham Research Institute (NRI) and TownsWeb Archiving in July to August 2023, Linxi examined the physical archives stored at the NRI under

the guidance of John Moffett. Additionally, she reviewed digitized files and the database catalogue with assistance from Casper Smithson, the Chief Operating Officer of TownsWeb.

Concerning the physical archives, we have obtained a complete back catalogue of China in Focus with assistance from NRI. We anticipate locating all missing issues of China Now and SACU News from the Cambridge University Main Library, which has agreed to provide a comprehensive collection of SACU publications from their database.

Regarding digitization and database management, there are over 7,000 photos awaiting transcription. Recently, we resumed Phase Two to finish this photographic scanning project with support from Prof Sun Hua of Peking University.

Looking ahead to 2024, our goal is to upload the entire collection of SACU publications and photo archives, conduct thorough data cleaning, sorting, and labelling to enhance the accessibility of the database. Efforts are also underway to address financial challenges stemming from rising annual fees.

Digital Media

Facebook (LI Jiaxi)

LI Jiaxi 李佳锡 has managed the SACU Facebook page since early 2022. In that time, engagement has increased to 540 followers.

Over the past year, we have shared hundreds of news articles and videos about UKChina events and Chinese culture. Our sources include CGTN, China Daily and the China National Tourist Office in London. Recently, we have started sharing a number of original poems and blog articles written by Chris Nash.

We also use the page to promote events hosted by SACU and its partners, including the Chinese New Year Lunch, SACU members’ exhibitions in Manchester, and the annual ‘Stand Up To Sinophobia’ march in London. For example, the post of Iris Yau’s exhibition reached more than 600 people and the posts of the ‘Stand Up To Sinophobia’ demonstration reached more than 400 people on the Internet.

In general, original posts by SACU gained more views and likes because most followers are SACU members. To gain a stronger online presence, we hope to engage with more partners and connect with increasing numbers of young people in the UK, so that more original content can be produced and shared.

I look forward to receiving more news articles from other SACU members and advertising more events/exhibitions organised or participated by SACU members.

Council of Management and Executive Committee as of June 2024

President and Vice Presidents

Michael Wood President Jenny Clegg Vice President Jane Hadley Vice President Rob Stallard Vice President Frances Wood Vice President

Executive Committee

Chris Nash SACU Chair (appointed April 2023) Zoë Reed SACU Chair (retired April 2023) Jacob Holliday Secretary ZHAO Chunbin Treasurer Ros Wong Membership Secretary

Other Council Members

Walter Fung China Eye Andrew Hicks CIO advisor and constitution Pete Jarvis Website Manager LI Linxi SACU Archivist Barnaby Powell Speakers’ Bureau WANG Fang Essay competition Iris Ching Man Yau Publicity & External Partnerships David Ayrton Flo Kenna Supernumerary Council member Arron Van Rompaey Former Council members Oliver Harris Digital Media Coordinator

Annual Accounts

Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding Ltd.

Registered Charity No. 294651 Registered Company 876179

BALANCE SHEET AS OF 31ST DECEMBER 2023

2022		2023
FIXED ASSETS
0	Net written down value	0
CURRENT	ASSETS
28859	Balance at Bank	24292
		(see note 1)
LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES
0	Deferred Income to 2024	0
28859	SURPLUS OF CURRENT ASSETS OVER LIABILTIES	24292
	REPRESENTED BY:
28873	ACCUMULATED FUND BROUGHT FORWARD	28859
-14	SURPLUS FOR THE CURRENT YEAR	-4567
£28859	ACCUMULATED FUND AT THE END OF YEAR	£24292

Note 1. Current account £15,956.04, Savings account £7840.27, PayPal(residual) £495.92

Note 2: In the 2022 balance sheet, there was a rounding error in the PayPal (residual) entry, which has since been rectified. The corrected amount should be £430 instead of £812.

Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding Ltd.

Registered Charity No. 294651 Registered Company 876179

PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER 2023.

2022		2023
INCOME
5177	Membership subscriptions	4865 (see note 3)
2380	Donations/Fundraising	0
3000	Essay Competition Fund	0
680	Other	2844(see note 4)

£11237 £7709

EXPENDITURE
1956 AGM & COUNCIL Expenditure and Administration	3462
2163 China Eye printing & postage	2568
1319 Website/Online Events/Social Media	698
225 Essay Competition	0
5588 Archiving Project	4528 (see note 5)
0 CIO Conversion	1020 (see note 6)
£11251	£12276
£-14 NET SURPLUS FOR THE YEAR	£-4567

Note 3. Comprises membership income received across Co-op and PayPal and includes a number of discretionary donations received alongside membership payments which it is not possible to be separate for the purposes of reporting.

Note 4. Comprises account credits, Amazon donations, loose cash received, saving account’s interest rate and HRMC Charities credit.

Note 5. Line item added from 2022 onwards following commencement of SACU digital archive project.

Note 6. Payment made to Ward Hadaway LLP for the CIO conversion process.