About Us

The Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU) was founded in 1965 to promote understanding and friendship between the British and Chinese people.

It is open to all who subscribe to these aims.

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 base 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

 SACU aims to promote understanding:

  • to help the UK flourish in a world increasingly influenced by China
  • to help overcome misplaced suspicion and increase understanding of China within the UK
  • to help members progress their China-related interests and so to help SACU thrive

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Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding

14 hours ago

Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding

A request came in to SACU’s Facebook page three days ago. The message is in English and Chinese and relates to an ancestral hall that has been built in Shantou, East Guandong. The message seems to be a request for information on people surnamed ‘Wei’ presently living in the UK.

This is the message:

Hello, my name is James Campion. I am British, but live in China. My Chinese father-in-law and his colleagues have recently finished building a museum in 汕头 to commemorate 魏 people. It is called the Wei Ancestral Hall (it is similar to 陈家祠 in Guangzhou). They want to connect with the 魏 communities in other countries, by building more Wei Ancestral Halls in areas with 魏 people. Therefore, they are interested in learning about the amount of 魏 people living in the UK. Do you have any statistics about this? They would like to know

1. How many British Chinese, or Chinese people permanently living in the UK, are 魏 people (NOT foreign students, or temporary visitors)?

2. What is the percentage of 魏 people in the UK, compared to other Chinese people?

Thank you very much.

Best wishes,

James Campion

你好，我是James Campion, 中文名是詹文迪。我是英国人。我的岳父是中国人，他和他的朋友正在筹备建设“魏征纪念馆”，（地址在广东省汕头市，类似于广州的“陈家祠堂”）。现在汕头的魏征纪念馆已经建成，我岳父和朋友们有意愿在国外筹备建设“魏氏祠堂”，因此，他想调查了解在国外生活居住的“魏”氏华人的数量。

1. 生活在英国的华人中姓“魏”的人大约有多少人？

2. 姓“魏”的人占英国华人总数的百分比大约是多少？

3. 英国华人中，多数人祖籍是哪里？姓氏是什么？

The Wei surname seems to be extremely rare and it is doubtful that there is a community sufficiently large to be meaningful. SACU tries to be as helpful as possible to whoever writes in to us so if any members have an opinion on this or specific knowledge they could share please let SACU know and we’ll pass it along to James. ... See MoreSee Less

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Who We Are

Zoe Reed
Chairperson
Zoe Reed has been SACU's Chair since 2009. She has a direct interest in building links and understanding with China as her father was Chinese - however she did not meet him until the 1990's when she traced him to his home town of Lanzhou, Gansu province. Her father came to UK under the sponsorship of Joseph Needham and hence Zoe's commitment to building SACU. Zoe is a Director in an NHS Foundation Trust which provides mental health services and is married with two grown up children.
Corinne Attwood
Secretary
Corinne Attwood first joined SACU in the mid-eighties. Corinne led her first tour of China in 1985 and has been leading tours regularly since then, as well as private visits. She joined the SACU Council in 2009 and has recently been appointed Secretary. Corinne started learning Chinese in 1984 at evening classes - she is still learning characters.
Yuan Gao
Treasurer
Yuan Gao joined SACU in the spring of 2016 and has been actively engaged in promoting SACU to young Chinese group in the UK and abroad. She is specially interested in bridging the culture and communication gaps between Chinese and British. She works full time as a quantitative analyst at Swiss Re.
Chris Henson
Membership Secretary
Chris Henson is a retired business executive with a life-long interest in Chinese history and culture. He taught Business English at University of Liaoning in Shenyang and gives talks about China to schools and community organisations in South-east England.
Ros Wong
Events Coordinator
Ros Wong (née Lawton) joined SACU in 1972 after graduating with a degree in Chinese Studies from the University of Leeds. In 1977 she joined the SACU delegation to China when she was Secretary of the Merseyside Branch of SACU. After a working life as a Librarian in public libraries, Ros has taken up an active retirement supporting SACU’s work. Ros became SACU’s Programme Co-ordinator after the 50th Anniversary symposium and joined SACU Council in 2016
Walter Fung
China Eye Editor
Walter Fung has been a member of SACU since 1983 and has served on Council since 2000. He has a degree in Chemistry and is a retired textile technologist. Since his retirement he has gone back to his roots and is interested in all aspects of Chinese history and culture. He is especially interested in the early Chinese community in the UK and overseas Chinese communities in general. He has travelled extensively and has been to China many times.
Pete Jarvis
Webmaster
Pete is an independent IT Consultant living in Bournemouth. He first became interested in China in the 1980s having listened to stories about his great uncle, George Hogg (see the Donate page). He first went to China in 1990 and was then part of the tour to Dunhuang in September 2016 where he met Jenny Clegg who introduced him to SACU. He created this new website in 2017 and is working with council members to maintain its contents.
Frances Wood
Vice President
Frances Wood attended SACU meetings when still at school and then studied Chinese at Cambridge, joining the first SACU Youth Tour to China in 1971. She worked in the Chinese section of SOAS Library and eventually became Curator of the Chinese Collections in the British Library, retiring in 2013. She has travelled extensively in China and written The Blue Guide to China, The Silk Road, Did Marco Polo Go To China? The Lure of China, The Forbidden City, The Diamond Sutra, Betrayed Ally and Great Books of China amongst other things
Jenny Clegg
Vice President
Jenny has been a member of SACU since the 1970s, serving on the Council of Management for a number of years. In the 1980s she was an education worker based in Manchester’s Chinatown before moving into higher education as a lecturer in Asia Pacific Studies. She has visited China many times: as a member of several SACU delegations, as a tour leader and as a researcher on China’s rural reforms. Jenny's particular academic interest has been in China's cooperative economy and since retiring she has continued to research and write about China and Chinese matters. She is a member of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives.
Rob Stallard
Vice President
Rob Stallard is a software developer and I.T. consultant. He met Joseph Needham while studying at Caius College, Cambridge. He joined SACU in 1988 after attending evening classes with Chinese tutor, and SACU member, David Wright. Rob has served on Council as Treasurer and as Secretary and is now a Vice President. Rob developed and maintained SACU's web site from 1995 to 2017.
Jane Hadley
Vice President
Jane has enjoyed a lifelong interest in China, its people and culture. She engages with the Chinese people in her local community and encourage the families and children to learn about, and be proud of, their Chinese heritage. She is often invited to give talks about China to local school children and community groups and is always pleased to share her interests with them. Jane has been a member of the SACU Council of Management for 24 years and served as Chair and Treasurer. She was appointed Vice President in 2008.
Haris Livas-Dawes
Council Member
Dr. Haris Livas-Dawes spent most of her life in Greece in senior level positions in government, business, media and academia, a full and varied career. She has 6 children and lives with her second husband in Easington. In the UK she has taught at two universities.
Andrew Hicks
Council Member
Andrew Hicks first became fascinated with China and its culture when a lecturer in Law at the University of Hong Kong during the seventies. Going on to lecture at the National University of Singapore and later settling in Thailand for some years, he lived in Asia and Chinese related communities for over twenty years. Now back in UK, being a Council member of SACU enables him to share his passion for all things Chinese.
Cai Chen
Council Member
Cai Chen is a PhD student on Contemporary Chinese history at the King’s College London. She joined SACU in the spring of 2016 and works on projects and market promotion for SACU. She is passionate to improve the mutual understanding and friendship between peoples from the UK and China.