In order to promote the academic exchanges and cooperation in the field of agricultural history between China, Japan and Korea, Professor Mitsutoshi Jokunaga, director of Japanese Economic History Institute, Osaka University of Economics, Choi Duk Kyung, professor of History Department, Pusan National University, Li Genpan, professor of Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Liu Xinhao and Dong Kaichen, professors of China Agricultural University, Min Zongdian and Cao Xingsui, professors of China Agricultural Museum, met at China Agricultural Museum on February 21, 2001 and had a friendly discussion on cooperative research among scholars from China, Japan and Korea in the field of agricultural history.

　　All scholars present believed that there was a long history of agricultural exchanges between the three countries of China, Japan and Korea. The Chinese ancient agricultural works had a great influence on the other two countries. Some of the works are missing in China but have been printed and collected in Japan and Korea. In recent years, through friendly academic exchanges, those works have been brought back to China and printed for publication. This is a great opportunity to carry out comparative studies in the three countries, finding out the similarities and differences and the future trends that have important academic and realistic implications. The symposium was very successful after constructive discussions:

　　(1) The cooperative studies had three themes on traditional agricultural works and technologies among the three countries from the 15th century to the 20th century, the introduction and influence of western modern agricultural science and technology, and the comparative study of agricultural history in three countries since the 15th century;

　　(2) The cooperative studies involved research groups from each country. Each group consists of four to six experts on agricultural history, focusing on the three afore-mentioned themes. The academic span was three years, and research papers have been published in Chinese, Japanese and Korean;

　　(3) In order to strengthen the academic exchanges and cooperation, there would be an annual academic symposium in either China, Korea, or Japan. The first academic exchange symposium was held at China Agricultural Museum in November 2001.