In 1942 Needham became Scientific Counsellor at the British Embassy in Chung-king where he directed the Sino-British Science Cooperation Office. This gave him the opportunity to collect source materials, travel widely and pursue his enquiries with scholars and craftsmen and formally begin his writing.
一九四二年，他受聘為重慶英國駐華大使館中英科技聯絡處主任，因此有機會親往中國蒐集書刊資料，並遊覽各地，與學者工匠們琢磨學問，正式開始寫作。