The First International Symposium of Systematic and Applied Acarology Society was successfully 
held jointly with the 7th National Conference of Acarology of China in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, China, Oct. 11-16, 1998. More that 50 acarologists participated the meetings. 
A symposium with 6 invited speakers coordinated by Dr Z.-Q. Zhang and Dr R.-J. Hu was conducted on 15 October 1998

On the evening of October 13, the Executive Committee of SAAS held its first meeting. It was presided by Dr. Zhi-Qiang ZHANG of UK, the president of SAAS, and was attended by the members of the committee, Prof. Zhimo ZHAO, Dr. Renjie HU, and Dr. Xiao-Yue HONG. 
Prof. Longshu LI was organizing another international conference in Beijing; Prof. Y.S. CHOW, Prof. Lairong LIANG, Dr. Cheng-Feng MO, and Dr. Ting-Kui QIN were absent for various reasons. Some leading Chinese acarologists including Profs. Huifu WANG, Weinan WU, Tinghuan WEN, Daochao JIN, Zhimin ZHU and Hongfu ZHOU were invited to attend the meeting. Several issues including the publication and distribution of the SAAS journals and the election of the society officials were discussed. More details are in Acarology Bulletin 3(4) 1998. 

• Biology of velvet mites.   By Dr. Zhi-Qiang Zhang
• A review of the taxonomy of the superfamily Raphignathoidea. By Dr Qinghai Fan 
• Host plant testing and different temperature rearing of the tea pink mite: Acaphylla theae (Watt) (Eriophyoidea: Eriophyidae). By Dr Xiaoyue Hong
• Pulmonary non-specific mite infeatation in China. By Prof Tinghuan Wen
• Host-specificity and host selection of gamasid mites (Acari: Gamasina). By Dr. Xianguo Guo.
• Ecology and control of Ixodes scapularis-transmitted human babesiosis in the USA. By  Renjie HU