Dear Friends of the Society for Song, Yuan, and Conquest Dynasty Studies, I hope this email finds you well in these uncertain times. The members of the Board and I were very disappointed that AAS was canceled, leaving us unable to talk with old friends and make new ones at our annual members’ Meeting-in-Conjunction. We have so many accomplishments to report! As a less-than-ideal substitute, I am writing today to update you on the activities of the Society over the past year and give you news of our ongoing and future work. Sponsorships: We continued our sponsorship activities last year on two fronts. 1. Website development: We continued development of our website as an information and research portal. This year we were happy to be able to elect Amelia Ying Qin to be our Web Editor. She has moved into the role seamlessly and is working hard to keep links active and information on the site up to date, including the PayPal link that allows for simple membership renewal<https://www.songyuan.org/membership.html>. Thank you, Amelia, for agreeing to take on this important responsibility. Through the website everyone has access to Song Research Tools<https://www.songyuan.org/SongTools/index.html>, an online guide to useful resources for the study of all aspects of Song society. Xiong Huei-Lan has taken on the responsibility of the project from Hilde De Weerdt. We want to thank Hilde for her past contributions and Xiong Huei-Lan for her willingness and ability to continue this important work. Our deep appreciation goes out to you both. 2. Panel Sponsorship: Although AAS was canceled this year, we were very happy to have one sponsored panel accepted to the very competitive 2020 meeting and will continue to offer sponsorships for next year’s annual meeting. Look for the announcement of competition deadlines in the coming months. Officer/Board Updates and Future Election: This is a leadership change year at SSYCDS. We are happy to welcome Xu Man to be our incoming Treasurer, and Ya (Leah) Zuo as our incoming Secretary. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to outgoing officers Cong (Ellen) Zhang for her steady hand as Treasurer, and also to Reiko Shinno for generous service as Secretary, particularly her extraordinary work with the new website. Additionally, we will soon hold an election for three members of the Board of Directors as well as a modification to our Articles of Incorporation. During the past year, the board approved a minor rewording of the “purpose” of the Society to clarify the range of time that is the focus of scholarship to be supported by the Society. Although this is consistent with the purpose originally articulated in the Society’s first Sung Studies Newsletter of 1970 (see E. Worthy, "From the Editor," 3<https://www.songyuan.org/JSYS/Archive/SSN01.pdf>), the change to the Articles of Incorporation will require the approval of the members of the Society. In the original phrasing, the purpose of the Society is: to form an international scholarly, non-political, and non-profit professional association of all persons interested in the study of Chinese, Jürchen, Khitan, Tangut, and Mongol history, society, and culture from the founding of the Song dynasty to the end of the Yuan dynasty. In the new wording, the purpose is to form an international scholarly, non-political, and non-profit professional association of all persons interested in the study of Chinese, Jürchen, Khitan, Tangut, and Mongol history, society, and culture from the founding of the Song dynasty to the end of the Yuan dynasty tenth to the fourteenth centuries. The change is minor but still requires a vote, which will be included in the upcoming ballot. Only members are allowed to vote, however, so if you have not recently paid membership dues, now is the time to renew or join and make your voice heard. Journal: JSYS 48 (2019), a special issue publishing excellent articles first presented at the Leiden Middle Period Conference in 2017, was completed and available digitally in the fall of 2019. Thanks to our Journal Editor, Ari Levine, and Associate Editors Beverly Bossler, Valerie Hansen, Charles Hartman, and Richard von Glahn for making this a reality and keeping the Journal on a real-time publication schedule. As a benefit of membership, individuals are sent a copy of paper journals published during the calendar year in which they join. Members should have already received their paper copies (please let us know if you haven’t). Additionally, with membership this year you also receive advanced access to JSYS 49 (2020), which will be available on Project Muse in autumn at the latest. While we all know that a paper copy of JSYS is often preferable, especially in these times of online everything, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Board has decided to make on-line access to the journal via Project Muse free of charge through JUNE 30. We hope this might ease access for people struggling to finish their semesters. If you haven’t read the journal recently, now is the time to peruse all of the quality research articles and book reviews found in JSYS. We also hope this access will remind listserv members of the valuable work of the Society, an organization worthy of your support through full membership. Finances: Digital downloads of our content through Project Muse have allowed us to build up a cushion so that we can maintain our high standards of journal production as well as continue to offer panel support and a reception at the AAS annual meeting. The treasurer’s report will be sent to active members in a separate email. Additionally, early this year the Schirokauer family generously donated another $4,000 to the upkeep of the Journal. We thank them, and others who have donated to honor the memory of Professor Schirokauer, very much for their support. Schirokauer funds will allow us to continue high-quality editing of all the articles, including those written by non-Anglophone authors. Finally, the Society for Song, Yuan, and Conquest Dyn Studies is now on Twitter @SSYCDS1—please be sure to FOLLOW US! As a reminder, membership to the Society is determined by calendar year. If you have not renewed for 2020, you can easily do so online<https://www.songyuan.org/membership.html> following this link (even right now ☺) or by mail using the attached order form/JSYS 48 Table of Contents. With renewal you will receive your complimentary paper copy of JSYS 48, as well as full access to the digital publication of JSYS 49 as soon as it is available. We appreciate your continued support through membership dues. Wishing you all safety and good health, Tracy Tracy Miller President, Society for Song, Yuan, and Conquest Dynasty Studies Associate Professor of History of Art and Asian Studies Vanderbilt University