Last week we welcomed a delegation from Beijing who were very interested to see our copies of the English-Chinese dictionary, Chinese Grammar, etc. given to the Society by their author, Robert Morrison, in the early 19th century.
Newcastle is well known in China because of the large number of Business students at the universities, and there are regular visits such as this. Our visitors were particularly interested in the financial structure of the Society, and impressed that such an organisation can function without government support.
They came back today to thank us for our hospitality, and presented us with a Chinese scroll with a text going back 1700 years. We gave them something to remember us by – a print of one of Emma Holliday’s paintings of the library. We share their hopes that the friendship between our countries will continue forever.
