On July 1, 2014, at the invitation of the Chinese-British Culture Exchange Association and the Chinese Culture Promotion Association, the "Dragon Civilisation and the Spirit of Cooperation" sponsored by the Institute of Chinese Traditional Culture”was successfully held in the United Kingdom. The guest speaker Professor Duan Baolin from PKU, a well-known Chinese folklore expert, gave an in-depth talk in the garden at the home of the famous overseas Chinese leader Dr. Shan Sheng and Dean Gui Qiulin.

The speech attracted a large amount of guests from all over the UK. In this beautiful summer day, with flowers and birds, soft breeze and sunshine, everyone gathered in the silver-white canvas tent in the garden, enjoying coffee, tea, pastries while listening to the talk. Professor Duan Baolin talked about the extensive and profound Chinese traditional folklore, academic achievements and unique understanding he has researched over the years, and his expectations for the protection and promotion of Chinese folklore by British Chinese community. Most of the guests had a special affection for traditional Chinese culture. They adopted unique Chinese cultural backgrounds of the Mainland, Taiwan, and other Sinophonic regions. There were many professors and scholars from UK higher educations and institutions and cultural professionals who had worked in the media and cultural fields, as well as activists who had been promoting traditional Chinese culture, and even Westerners who were interested in and researched on Chinese culture.

Professor Duan started from the development of Chinese and foreign cultures and led the audience to the history of Chinese civilisation. He believed that the evaluation and study of Chinese folklore could allow us to further understand the history of ancient China and the development of Chinese civilisation. To this end, Professor Duan had been in charge editing 35 volumes of "Chinese Folk Customs". This time when he came to the UK, he hoped that through his introduction and explanation, he would be able to see how Chinese folklore has been preserved, promoted and developed in the UK in the near future in order to discover the influence and challenge of traditional folklore in modern social life. Professor Duan's topic aroused enthusiastic participation among the audience. Many people started from their own life and talked about the cultural collisions between Chinese traditional cultural factors and Western culture in their daily lives. In the speech, China’s “dragon civilisation” was also the key spot. Dragon has been in a cultural symbol for China for thousands of years. Everyone expressed their opinions from the symbol to the spirit of the dragon to illustrate their understanding in this particular area.