On March 23rd, director of the National Library of China (NLC) Xiong Yuanming met with Yang Wei, board member of the British Library (BL).

Xiong Yuanming welcomed Yang Wei and briefly reviewed the history of communication and cooperation between the library communities of the two countries, as well as the latest development of the NLC.

Yang Wei expressed gratitude for the warm reception of the NLC, and said that the BL is eager to continue to strengthen communication and cooperation between libraries of both countries. This year marks the 50th birthday of the BL, which will hold a series of celebration activities. CEO of the BL, Roly Keating, had wrote a letter inviting director Xiong to the UK; and this time, he sent Yang Wei to China to officially invite director Xiong to attend the celebration in the UK.

Xiong Yuanming expressed his willingness to participate in the celebration activities of the BL and hoped to take this as an opportunity to further strengthen the cooperation between the two libraries. It is believed that in 2023, the cooperation between both national libraries and the library communities of both countries will make further progress. He expected that the "UK-China Library Forum" will continue to be held in 2024 and become a highlight of cooperation in the field of humanities between China and the UK.

After the meeting, Yang Wei visited the National Museum of Classic Books.