These letters relate to Joseph Needham's trip to Beijing on behalf of the International Scientific Commission for the Investigation of the Alleged Bacterial Warfare in Korea and China Commission and the subsequent visit of the Britain China Friendship Association delegates
The letters comprise:
1 letter to Dorothy Needham from the Peking Hotel describing his changing role from liaison to taking a central position in the Commission and responsibility for writing the report.Other matters include an analysis of the procedures of the Commission and the abilities of its members, also concerns about reaction to the report, public criticism of the Dean of Canterbury, defence of the facts presented in the report. He states ‘So perhaps I shall have done 3 good things for China in my life, the SBSCO, the ISCIBW and HOS (I mean S&CiC)…’ Also news of friends and the bacteriologist Fang Kang [Fang Gang 方綱] and Dr G, and the gynaecologist Yen Jen-Ying [Yan Renying 严仁英]. Two signed copies, one sent to Jaap and Willie, this letter includes a handwritten note dated 15 Aug. 1952 to be given to FGY entitled ‘Suggestions and proposals. Metabolic Integration, Regulation and Adaptation in Multicellular Organisms’.
15 Aug. 1952

1 letter to Dorothy Needham from the Peking Hotel describing the last stages of the Report and visits within Beijing to the Pei Hai [Beihai] Park and the Tung An Shih Chhang [Dongan shichang 東安市場] market to buy books. Other matters include meetings with friends, including the engineer Yap Chu-Phay [Ye Zhupei 葉渚沛], visits to the Ming Tombs and the discovery by Feng Chia-Sheng [Feng Jiasheng 馮家昇], an expert on military technology, that Needham’s copy of the Wu Ching Tshung Yao [Wu jing zong yao 武經總要] was an unknown second edition of 1439. He presented it to the Academia Sinica Library.
1 Sep. 1952

1 letter to Dorothy Needham from the Peking Hotel describing the arrival of the Britain China Friendship Association cultural delegation. Other matters include a visit to the Peking Agricultural College, the various visits of the delegates, the British representative Harold Lamb and books purchased for Cambridge University Library.
11 Sep. 1952

1 letter to Dorothy Needham from the National Hotel, Moscow describing his departure from China.
18 Sep. 1952