The fourth IAWA-China Group Annual Meeting was held at Zhang-Jia-Gang city, China, on November 25-26, 2017, organized by the Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau of Zhang-Jia-Gang. In total, about 100 participants from more than 30 universities, research institutes and wood production inspection related research centers attended the meeting and discussed the topics ‘Innovating the research on wood anatomy and promoting sustainable development and utilization of forest resources’.22 IAWA members presented their current research data on wood formation, multiple techniques for wood identification, preservation of archaeological wood, identification of endangered species and sustainable utilization of wood resources. Beginning this year, the annual meeting of IAWA-China Group set up the Excellent Presentation Award to students, and one student each from the Southwest Forest University, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, and Nanjing Forestry University of China were the recipients this year. The fifth IAWA-China Group annual meeting will be held in November 2018, at Fujian Agricultural and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China.