![Yangshan-Port-Containers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Yangshan-Port-Containers.jpg)
Science and technology in China have developed rapidly during the 1980s to 2010s, and major scientific and technological achievements have been made since the 1980s.
From the 1980s to the 1990s, the Chinese government successively launched the "
863 Plan" and the "Strategy for Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education", which greatly promoted the development and progress of China's science and technology.
The
Chinese government
The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
has placed emphasis through funding, reform, and societal status on science and technology as a fundamental part of the socio-economic development of the country as well as for national prestige.
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
has made rapid advances in areas such as education, infrastructure,
high-tech
High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...
manufacturing, academic publishing, patents, and commercial applications and is now in some areas and by some measures a world leader. China is now increasingly targeting indigenous
innovation
Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed enti ...
and aims to reform remaining weaknesses. Per the
Global Innovation Index
The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and ''World Business'', a British m ...
in 2022, China was considered one of the most competitive in the world, ranking 11th in the world, 3rd in the Asia & Oceania region and 2nd for countries with a population of over 100 million.
History
![Dunhuang star map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Dunhuang_star_map.jpg)
China was a world leader in science and technology until the early years of the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
.
Chinese discoveries
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
and
Chinese innovations such as
papermaking
Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is made using industrial machinery, while handmade paper survives as a speciali ...
,
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
, the
compass
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...
, and
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). T ...
(the
Four Great Inventions
The Four Great Inventions () are inventions from ancient China that are celebrated in Chinese culture for their historical significance and as symbols of ancient China's advanced science and technology. They are the compass, gunpowder, papermakin ...
) contributed to the economic development in East Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Chinese scientific activity started to decline in the fourteenth century. Unlike in Europe, scientists did not attempt to reduce observations of nature to mathematical laws and they did not form a scholarly community with criticisms and progressive research. There was an increasing concentration on
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
,
arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
, and
public administration
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit es ...
while science and technology were seen as trivial or restricted to limited practical applications.
The causes of this
Great Divergence
The Great Divergence or European miracle is the socioeconomic shift in which the Western world (i.e. Western Europe and the parts of the New World where its people became the dominant populations) overcame pre-modern growth constraints and eme ...
continue to be debated. One factor is argued to be the
imperial examination
The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
system which removed the incentives for Chinese intellectuals to learn mathematics or to conduct experimentation. By the 17th century, Europe and the Western world surpassed China in scientific and technological advancement. The causes of this early modern
Great Divergence
The Great Divergence or European miracle is the socioeconomic shift in which the Western world (i.e. Western Europe and the parts of the New World where its people became the dominant populations) overcame pre-modern growth constraints and eme ...
continue to be debated by scholars to this day.
After being defeated repeatedly by
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
and
Western nations
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. in the 19th century, Chinese reformers began promoting modern science and technology as part of the
Self-Strengthening Movement
The Self-Strengthening Movement, also known as the Westernization or Western Affairs Movement (–1895), was a period of radical institutional reforms initiated in China during the late Qing dynasty following the military disasters of the Opium ...
. After the Communist victory in 1949 science and technology research was organized based on the model of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. It was characterized by a bureaucratic organization led by non-scientists, research according to the goals of central plans, separation of research from production, specialized research institutes, concentration on practical applications, and restrictions on information flows. Researchers should work as collectives for society rather than as individuals seeking recognition. Many studied in the Soviet Union which also transferred technology. The
Cultural revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
, which sought to remove perceived "
bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. ...
" influences and attitudes, caused large negative effects and disruptions. Among other measures it saw the scientific community and formal education attacked, intellectuals were sent to do manual labor, universities and academic journals were closed, most research ceased, and for nearly a decade China trained no new scientists and engineers.
After
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
's death, S&T was established as one of the
Four Modernizations
The Four Modernizations (simplified Chinese: 四个现代化; traditional Chinese: 四個現代化) were goals first set forth by Deng Xiaoping to strengthen the fields of agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology in China. T ...
in 1976. The new leader
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. Aft ...
, and architect of the
Chinese economic reform
The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and " socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of ...
, was a strong promoter of S&T and reversed the policies of the Cultural revolution. The Soviet inspired system was then gradually reformed. Media began promoting the value of S&T, scientific thinking, and scientific achievement.
[ The third and fourth generations of leaders came almost exclusively from technical backgrounds.
The ]State Council of the People's Republic of China
The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the pr ...
in 1995 issued the "Decision on Accelerating S&T Development" which described planned Science & Technology development for the coming decades. It described S&T as the chief productive force and affecting economic development, social progress, national strength, and living standards. S&T should become closely associated with market needs. Not only Soviet style institutes should do research but also universities and private industries. State institutions should form joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
s with Chinese or foreign venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which h ...
in order for S&T developments to reach the industry. S&T personal should become more occupationally mobile, pay should be linked to economic results, and age and seniority should become less important for personal decisions. Intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
rights should be respected. Information exchange should improve and there should be competition and open bidding on projects. The environment should be protected. Chinese indigenous S&T in certain key areas should be especially promoted. Public officials should improve their understanding of S&T and incorporate S&T in decision making. Society, including Communist Party youth organizations, labor union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...
s and the mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit informati ...
, should actively promote respect for knowledge and human talents.
During the last 30 years China concentrated on building physical infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
such as roads and ports. One policy during the last decade has been to ask for technology transfer in order for foreign companies to gain access to the Chinese market. China is now increasingly targeting indigenous innovation.[ During this period China has succeeded in developing an innovation infrastructure, founded on the establishment of over 100 science and technology parks in many parts of the country, along with encouragement of entrepreneurship outside the state-owned sector. Yip and McKern argue that Chinese firms have evolved through three phases as their innovation capabilities have matured and that by 2017 many of them are of world standard. They are now strong competitors in the China market and increasingly in foreign markets, where they are establishing local operations.
]
Techno-nationalism
While the term "techno-nationalism" was originally applied to the United States in the 1980s, it has since been used to describe nationalistic technology policies in many countries, particularly in Asia. Chinese techno-nationalism is rooted in the country's humiliation at the hands of more advanced countries in the 19th century. Indeed, China's leaders (like those of other countries) have long seen scientific and technological development as vital for achieving economic affluence, national security, and national prestige. Lacking indigenous technological intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
and innovation are seen as key national problems. The 21st century has thus seen a series of central government initiatives designed to promote "indigenous innovation" and technological development more generally in China. These include the National Medium- and Long-Term Program for Science and Technology Development (2006–20), the Strategic Emerging Industries initiative, the Internet Plus initiative, and the Made in China 2025 Program, among others.
Through these initiatives, the Chinese state has intervened in the economy in a variety of ways to promote national technological development and reduce reliance on other countries. Prioritized industries and firms are protected and guided. There are systematic efforts to replace foreign technology and intellectual properties with indigenous technology. Foreign companies are given many incentives for technology transfer and for moving R&D to China. At the same time the technological abilities of domestic companies are supported in various ways. Such policies have generated considerable conflict between China and developed countries, particularly the United States, although China has often proven flexible when its policies have been challenged.
Nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
and nationalistic achievements have been seen as becoming the main ideological justifications and societal glue for the regime as Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
loses influence. Some science and technology mega-projects has been seen as questionable trophy projects done for propaganda purposes with Chinese state-controlled media being filled with reports of Chinese achievements. In 2019, reports surfaced stating that the Chinese government has ordered all foreign PC hardware and operating systems that are installed in government offices to be replaced in the next three years. Other reports stated that the Chinese government would be increasing subsidies for tech firms.
Gross domestic expenditure on research and development
In its ''Medium and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology'' (2006–2020), China fixed itself the target of devoting 2.5% of GDP to research and development by 2020. Between 2003 and 2012, gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) rose from 1.13% to 1.98% of GDP, suggesting that the country was on track to meet its target.
The research firm Battelle estimates that China's GERD will exceed that of the United States by 2023. However, several convergent factors cast doubt over the accuracy of Battelle's prediction: the deceleration in China's rate of economic growth in 2014, the considerable drop in industrial production since 2012 and the major stock market slide in mid-2015. After progressing rapidly for a decade, GERD stabilized at 2.07% of GDP in 2015.
China devoted 5.1% of total research spending to basic research in 2015, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. This is up from 4.8%, on average, over the past decade, but less than in 2004 (6.0%). The prolonged policy focus on experimental development has resulted in enterprises contributing three-quarters of Chinese research spending (77% of total expenditure on R&D in 2015). Enterprises focus on experimental development, which accounted for as much as 97% of their total research expenditure by 2015. Business enterprises contributed 60% of GERD in 2000 and 74% in 2008. In 2004, 74% of GERD went on experimental development. China aims to increase the share of basic research to 15% of total research spending by 2020.
Institutions
The State Council of the People's Republic of China
The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the pr ...
is the top administrative organ in China. Immediately below it are several ministries and ministry level organisations involved with various aspects of science and technology. The State Council Science and Education Leading Group, consisting of the leaders of the major science bodies, attempts to organize the national policy. Efficiency of overall coordination has been questioned with various agencies seen as having overlapping missions and rivalries for resources and sometimes engaging in wasteful duplication.[
The , formerly the State Science and Technology Commission, is the body primarily responsible for science and technology strategy and policy. It also administers national research programs, S&T development zones, and international cooperation. The ]Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is a cabinet-level department under the State Council responsible for basic education, vocational education, higher education, and other educational affairs across the country. The Mi ...
oversees education as well as research institutes at universities. Several other ministries such as the , the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China
The Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China (MOH) was a cabinet-level executive department which plays the role of providing information, raising health awareness and education, ensuring the accessibility of health services, and mon ...
, and the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China
The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) was an executive state agency within the government of the People's Republic of China. Its responsibilities were assumed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on March 19, 2018. Areas of responsibilit ...
are also involved in S&T.[
The National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Sciences directs planning for social sciences and philosophy.
The ]Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...
(CAS) is the most prestigious professional science organization in China with China's scientific elite being members. It directs many research institutes, research programs, graduate training programs, and gives influential advice. The Chinese Academy of Engineering
The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...
(CAE) gives important advice but unlike the CAS does not have research institutes of its own.[ The ]Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...
(CASS) has a similar role to CAS for social sciences and philosophy. There are also many more narrow academies such as the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS) (; Pinyin: Zhōngguó shuǐchǎn Kēxuéyánjiūyuàn) is a large fisheries research institute. It was founded in 1978 under the Ministry of Agriculture in the People's Republic of China. It is a lea ...
.
The National Natural Science Foundation of China
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC; ) is an organization directly affiliated to China's State Council for the management of the National Natural Science Fund.
History
NSFC was founded in February 1986 by theoretical chemist Ta ...
(NSFC) gives grants to individual researchers after peer-review
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...
.[
The ]People's Liberation Army General Armaments Department People's Liberation Army General Armaments Department (GAD; ) was founded in April 1998 and is in charge of equipping and arming the People's Liberation Army, as well as overseeing and improving military technology. It is one of the four "general de ...
directs military R&D.
The national scientific and academic organizations affiliated to the China Association for Science and Technology
The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST; ) is a mass organization of Chinese scientists and engineers, which is composed of multiple national professional societies and hundreds of branches at various local and international level ...
are also important forces in scientific and technological research.
The Society of Chinese Scientific Journalism presides over the Society of Chinese Technical Communication, China's first government approved technical communication association. Since 2002, the group has held annual conferences.
Research is carried out by governmental research institutes, in higher learning institutions, and by private enterprises.[
Local governments have become increasingly important in R&D funding and may now contribute up to half of government spending. Intense rivalry for research and high-tech industry has been argued to sometimes create wasteful subsidized overcapacity, dispersal of efforts better centralized in a few localities, and poorly judged bureaucratic subsidizing of technologies that soon become out-dated.][Vivek Wadhwa, Why China's Chip Industry Won't Catch America's, September 3, 2009 Bloomberg BusinessWeek, September 3, 2009]
National programmes
As of 2010, China's national R&D programmes encompassed the:[
* Key Technologies Program (renamed in 2006 as "zhicheng" or Support)
* National High Technology Program (]863 Program
The 863 program () or State High-Tech Development Plan () was a program funded and administered by the government of the People's Republic of China intended to stimulate the development of advanced technologies in a wide range of fields for th ...
)
* National Basic Research Program ( 973 Program)
* Spark Program - Rural technology
* Torch Program - New technology commercialization by creating special hi-tech zones and incubators
* Key Laboratories Program
* Engineering Research Centers
* State Key and New Product Program
* Innovation Fund for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
* Special Technology Development Project for Research Institutes
* Action Plan for Promoting Trade by Science and Technology
* National New Products Program
* Agricultural S&T Transfer Fund
The major national programs received 15-20% of government R&D spending in 2010. They funded research, after a stated competitive proposal procedure, in universities, institutes, and enterprise. Important project may receive funding from several programs. The programs have arguably had a strong effect but have also been involved in scandals, corruption and fraud. They have been accused mainly of producing derivative works rather than driving innovation and it has been claimed that they ignore merit in selecting projects in favor of cronyism
Cronyism is the spoils system practice of Impartiality, partiality in awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted colleagues, especially in politics and between politicians and supportive organizations. For example, cronyism occurs ...
. China is trying to improve their efficiency through measures such as more peer-review and evaluations.
Economic and Technological Development Zones
Based on the success of the Special Economic Zones of the People's Republic of China
When Deng Xiaoping took over as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC), he presented himself as a pragmatic contrast to his predecessor Mao, who was more of a theorist and an ideologist. Deng's main goal was to lift people ou ...
, China has created Economic and Technological Development Zones
The National Economic and Technological Development Zones () are the special areas of the People's Republic of China where foreign direct investment is encouraged. They are usually called the "Economic and Technological Development Zones" or simp ...
. They have the purposes of building up high-tech industries, attracting foreign investment, increasing exports, and improve the regional economy. They are considered to have been very successful and have been expanded from an initial fourteen to fifty-four.
Education and R&D personnel
In the first participation of Chinese student in an international student assessment test, the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in member and non-member nations intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-yea ...
, 15-year-old students from Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
ranked first in all of the three categories: mathematics, science, and reading. The Chinese students scored particularly well compared to other nations in mathematics. One explanation for the Chinese results may be a culture emphasizing education and competitive examinations and more time spent studying in part due to less participation in activities such as sports. Teaching have become a higher status occupation. Also, industrialized Shanghai which has done important educational reforms may not be representative for the rest of China. While there was no evidence of cheating or technical problems with the testing, Shanghai which attracts many immigrants from the rest of China may have allowed particularly good students to study in the city and the students may have been told that the test was important for China's image. The OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
director of the testing, Andreas Schleicher
Andreas Schleicher (born 7 July 1964) is a German mathematician, statistician and researcher in the field of education who is currently the director for education and skills, and special adviser on education policy to the secretary-general, at ...
, said that the results were expected to produce astonishment and had been examined for accuracy by international experts after the OECD received the Shanghai scores. He also said that the results "refute the commonly held hypothesis that China just produces rote learning" and "Large fractions of these students demonstrate their ability to extrapolate from what they know and apply their knowledge very creatively in novel situations". He believes that China has moved away from learning by rote. According to Schleicher, Russia performs well in rote-based assessments, but not in PISA, whereas China does well in both rote-based and broader assessments. In 2018 four major regions (Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
, Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
and Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...
) in China topped the rankings in reading, mathematics and science and China's school children are now the smartest in the world. Chinese high school students won multiple gold medals every year consistently at many International Science Olympiad Competitions like the International Biology Olympiad
The International Biology Olympiad (IBO) is a biological olympiad for pre-university students under the age 20, and is one of the most well-known International Science Olympiads. The first IBO was held in Czechoslovakia in 1990, and it has since b ...
, the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics
The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) is an annual Astronomy and Astrophysics competition for high school students. It is one of the international science olympiads.
The Olympiad was founded from a dissidence inside the ...
, the International Olympiad in Informatics
The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is an annual competitive programming and one of the International Science Olympiads for secondary school students. It is the second largest science olympiad, after International Mathematical Olympi ...
, the International Earth Science Olympiad
The International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO), one of the thirteen International Science Olympiads, is an annual competition for secondary school students that tests their abilities in disciplines such as geology, meteorology, environmental scie ...
, the International Mathematical Olympiad
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except i ...
, the International Physics Olympiad
The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is an annual physics competition for high school students. It is one of the International Science Olympiads. The first IPhO was held in Warsaw, Poland in 1967.
Each national delegation is made up of at ...
and the International Chemistry Olympiad The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) is an annual academic competition for high school students. It is one of the International Science Olympiads. The first IChO was held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1968. The event has been held every year ...
.
China has become one of the world's biggest sources for research and development personnel. Between 2000 and 2008, the number of engineers and scientists more than doubled to 1.59 million. Relative to population size this is still low compared to major developed nations like the United States and Japan but the gap is rapidly closing.[ The number of doctorate awards in science and engineering have increased tenfold since the early 1990s. The number of students in general at universities increased from 1 million to 5.4 million during the 1998-2007 period.][ In 2009 alone, China produced over 10,000 PhD engineering graduates, and as many as 500,000 ]BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
graduates in engineering, mathematics, information technology, and computer science – more than any other country.
The C9 League, pitched as China's Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...
, is an alliance of nine elite Chinese universities which receive a high amount of national research funding and produce a large share of national research output.
Chinese universities contribute an unusually large share of patents. The universities receive about half of R&D money from private enterprises.[
Eight out of nine members of the ]Politburo Standing Committee
The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histori ...
of the Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
(CCP) have engineering degrees, including CCP general secretary Hu Jintao.
2.25 million students have studied abroad since 1978. 340,000 were studying abroad in 2011 which was an increase by 20% over the previous year. In total 818,400 have returned to China with this occurring in particular in recent years. 186,200 returned to China in 2011 which was an increase by 38% over the previous year. China offers several benefits for high-achieving foreign educated Chinese who return to China. Students are now also returning because increased job opportunities unlike previously when many stayed abroad due lack of jobs in China. A 2009 study found that only 10% of Chinese students plan to stay in the United States due to visa restrictions, fear of lack of job opportunities, and belief that US growth will lag behind average world growth rates. 52% believed that the best job opportunities were in China which was in marked contrast with earlier surveys. 74% felt that the best days of China's economy was coming. 68% intended to start businesses. When they return, foreign educated students often provide crucial science and technology knowledge, management skills, and innovation abilities for scientific research and industry. The senior management in high-tech companies are often foreign educated.
Chinese diaspora
Overseas Chinese, as is the case for other diasporas and their homeland
A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...
s, have contributed significantly to China's development. They have been seen as an important channel for bringing trade, investment, and modern technology to China by both commercial activities and public non-profit cooperation. By using 'Brain Gain' to attract highly educated overseas Chinese to return to China to work, China has made significant improvements in its innovation ecosystem although there are some limitations to how sustainable this technique may be.
Industrial espionage
One of the objectives of Chinese intelligence activity abroad The Government of China is engaged in espionage overseas, directed through diverse methods via the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the United Front Work Department (UFWD), People's Liberation Army (PLA); ( ...
is alleged to be industrial espionage as well gaining military technology
Military technology is the application of technology for use in warfare. It comprises the kinds of technology that are distinctly military in nature and not civilian in application, usually because they lack useful or legal civilian applicatio ...
. Also private companies have been accused of espionage. Intelligence agencies suspect that thousands of Western companies may have been affected by data breaches that can be traced back to China.
International cooperation
The China Internet Information Center stated in a 2005 article that China had inter-governmental cooperative S&T agreements with 96 nations, cooperative S&T programs with 152 nations and regions, and participated in more than 1,000 international S&T cooperative organizations. NGO international exchanges and cooperative activities had increased. The China Association for Science and Technology
The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST; ) is a mass organization of Chinese scientists and engineers, which is composed of multiple national professional societies and hundreds of branches at various local and international level ...
and related organizations as well as the National Natural Science Foundation of China
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC; ) is an organization directly affiliated to China's State Council for the management of the National Natural Science Fund.
History
NSFC was founded in February 1986 by theoretical chemist Ta ...
participated in many cooperative international organizations. Chinese researchers held 281 leading posts on international organizations' expert committees and held 293 executive member-director or higher level positions.
Technology transfer and R&D by multinational corporations
In the early 1980s foreign companies began transferring technology by licensing agreements and sales of equipment. Later in the 1980s many multinational corporation
A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...
s started transferring technology by entering into joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
s with Chinese companies in order to expand in China. China in the 1990s introduced increasingly sophisticated regulations of foreign investment by which access to the Chinese market was traded for technology transfer. The entry of China into the World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...
in 2001 required this practice stop but critics argue that it continues. Chinese critics have argued such technology transfer may be useful for catching up but does not create new, cutting-edge technologies.[
China has increasingly encouraged multinational corporations to create R&D centers in China. Chinese critics have argued that foreign owned R&D mainly benefits foreign companies and removes many talented Chinese researchers from indigenous companies and institutions. Chinese supporters have argued that the foreign R&D serves as a role model and encouragement for indigenous companies and creates skilled communities from which labor and knowledge can easily flow to indigenous companies. In 2010 there were 1,200 such R&D centers and 400 out the Fortune 500 corporations had created such R&D centers. Corporations have argued that this is a necessity in order to adapt products for the local requirements of the Chinese market as well as it being essential for maintaining global competitiveness to make use the many available Chinese engineers and scientists. China is now ranked first when multinational corporations are asked in which nation future R&D centers are most likely to be located.][
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Innovation
A 2005 report found serious shortcomings to China's national innovation system. There were problems with services to help turn S&T work into results and the allocation of national funding to support S&T was far from optimal. Sometimes researchers became short-sighted if they get too close to the market. Another serious problem was that companies facing severe competition looked first to purchase foreign technology rather than investing in developing technology and technology development capacity at home in China. Many of the patent applications came from medium-sized enterprises (70%) since small enterprises invest little in research.["Issues in Building a National Innovation System" in 2005 High Technology Development Report (Gao Jishu Fazhan Baogao) from the Chinese Academy of Science (Kexue Chubanshe, Beijing 2005).] China's hierarchical, top-down society where authority is greatly respected and feared has been argued to stifle creative debate.
China in a 2006 report outlined policies for improving innovation. They include 20 large megaprojects in areas such as nanotechnology, high-end generic microchips, aircraft, biotechnology, and new drugs. This is combined with a more bottom-up approach on a Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
model consisting of small start-ups, venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which h ...
, and cooperation between industry and universities.
It has also been argued that China is the world leader in making small, innovative improvements to existing designs. One example is continual improvements to the design of power supplies
A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a res ...
making them gradually smaller, less expensive, and more energy efficient. This may not create completely new products or create headlines but may be more important for creating employment.
A 2016 NBER
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...
paper found that the Chinese economy is becoming increasingly innovative. The study found that rising labor costs in China and "expanded market opportunities in the world economy" were the main drivers behind innovations. The study also found that state-owned firms innovated less than private firms, even though state-owned firms received far greater subsidies.
In 2020, China's spending on research and development climbed 10.3% to a record 2.44 trillion Chinese yuan ($378 billion) according to the nation's National Bureau of Statistics.
Per the Global Innovation Index
The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and ''World Business'', a British m ...
in 2022, China was one of the most competitive in the world, ranking 11th in the world, 3rd in the Asia & Oceania region and 2nd for countries with a population of over 100 million. China is the only middle-income economy and the only newly industrialized economy in the top 30. It has increased its ranking considerably since 2013, where it was ranked 35th globally. China ranks No. 1 globally in patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, and creative goods exports. It also has two ( Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou and Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
in the 2nd and 3rd spots respectively) of the global top5 science and technology clusters, which is more than any other country.
Procurement
The central Chinese government, a large buyer of high-tech products, in 2009 proposed controversial policies demanding that companies selling to it promote Chinese innovation and that the products sold are free of foreign intellectual property.[ The most controversial parts were later withdrawn but local Chinese governments continue to use procurement to encourage indigenous innovation.][
]
Intellectual property
Effective protection of intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
has been seen as weak. There has been an increasing recognition of that this discourages indigenous innovation and efforts has been made to strengthen the system.[
China has been accused of not protecting foreign intellectual property and tacitly allowing such technologies to be copied and claimed to be Chinese intellectual property,][ and even of directly facilitating the transfer of foreign technological intellectual property from corporations to Chinese companies. Companies are required to divulge to Chinese authorities the inner workings of many technologies in the name of national security, and have accused the Chinese security forces of illegally sharing this technology with civilian industries.
]
Patents
In 2011, China became the nation with the greatest number of filed patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
applications. However, this reflects in part that the government gives companies incentives for filing patent applications regardless of if eventually granted. The percentage of patents applications in China filed by Chinese companies rose from less than 52% in 2006 to nearly 73% in 2010. World Intellectual Property Organization
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishi ...
data shows that Chinese companies have also become more important regarding patents overseas with Chinese companies now being on place two and four regarding number of patent applications filed by individual companies. China aims to transform the economy from "Made in China" to "Designed in China" and from contract manufacturing to having brand name
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
companies with resulting improved profit margins.
According to the recent data from the World Intellectual Property Indicators World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) is an annual statistical report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The publication provides an overview of the activity in the areas of patents, utility models, trademarks ...
, China's patent office received 1.54 million patent applications in 2018, representing nearly half of patent applications worldwide, more than double the US. Looked at the international picture or patent filed via the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishi ...
(WIPO) score, in 2019, China surpassed the U.S as the top source of international patent applications filed with WIPO. China-based applicants filed for 58,990 patents applications followed by 57,840 applications from the US.
In addition, although China is catching up fast, it still trails the U.S. and Japan for the number of patents made oversea. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, the U.S. has 247,609 equivalent patent applications filed abroad in 2021, followed by Japan (190,399) and China (111,905). Regarding the patent applications adjusting for GDP, China ranked second in the world after South Korea, with 8,159 resident patent applications per unit of USD 100 billion in GDP, followed by China (5,738). In terms of the patent applications adjusting for population, China ranked fourth in the world. South Korea continues to lead with 3,599 equivalent patent applications per million population, followed by Japan (1,770), Switzerland (1,119), and China (1,010).
Standards
To encourage innovation and avoid foreign intellectual property China has been developing indigenous technical standard
A technical standard is an established norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task which is applied to a common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, ...
s. One example is the TD-SCDMA
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...
3G standard. Critics have seen it as costly and delaying 3G introduction while supporters argue that it has increased technical abilities and experience which has increased Chinese competitiveness regarding 4G.[ ]Long-Term Evolution Time-Division Duplex
In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/ EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by ...
is being implemented as China's indigenous 4G standard.
Academic publishing
The Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in a 2011 report on academic publishing
Academic publishing is the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in academic journal articles, books or theses. The part of academic written output that is not formally pu ...
stated that in share of English scientific research papers the United States was first followed by China, the UK, Germany, Japan, France, and Canada. The report predicted that China would overtake the United States some time before 2020, possibly as early as 2013. Science-Metrix, a Canadian data-analysis company, predicted that in 2010 China would publish as many natural sciences and engineering peer-review
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...
ed papers as the United States. In 2015 China is predicted to publish as many papers as the US across all fields. In 2030 China is predicted to surpass the US in life and social sciences. In 2017, China overtakes the U.S. with the highest number of scientific publications.
An analysis of ISI Web of Knowledge data found that China had increased its share of the most highly cited science articles from 1.85% in 2001 to 11.3% in 2011. By 2019, China overtakes UK in ‘highly cited researchers’ table and ranks second after the United States according to Web of Science, who publish the annual list. Chinese research papers in the fields of material science, chemistry and engineering technology were the most cited in the world in the past decade, according to the same report. The share of the United States declined from 64.3% to 50.7% during the same ten-year period.
A 2009 study of Chinese social science studies in the Social Sciences Citation Index found a slow increase until 1999. The 1999-2007 period saw a very rapid increase. However, in 2007 China still only contributed 1.39% of the studies and mainland China only surpassed Hong Kong in 2006. Economics & business had larger share than social, political & communication science and psychology. The low share of social sciences compared to natural sciences may reflect that this is a common pattern in Asian nations, that Chinese social scientists publish in national journals not included in the Index and have less career incitements regarding publishing in international journals, and that state ideology and control is more important for social sciences than natural sciences. In China natural sciences are administered by the Ministry of Science and Technology A Science Ministry or Department of Science is a ministry or other government agency charged with science. The ministry is often headed by a Minister for Science.
List of Ministries of Science
Many countries have a Ministry of Science or Ministry ...
while social sciences are administered by the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Sciences which may hinder inter-disciplinary collaboration. Although the proportion of Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) articles published internationally from Mainland China has been increasing over time during 1999–2018, it only accounted for 14% of the world in 2018 compared to Eastern Europe (around 25 percent) and Western Europe (around 50 percent).
Articles published in China related to basic medial science and clinical research and indexed by PubMed
PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain t ...
increased on average by 31.2% and 22% each year between 2000 and 2009. Randomized clinical trial
A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical t ...
were about 1/3 of clinical research articles. However, in 2009 this still represented only 1.5% of worldwide clinical research articles and 1.7% of worldwide randomized clinical trials. Clinical research education for medical students and the involvement and the supporting environment for medical doctors regarding clinical research have shortcomings.
There are 8,000 journals and 4,600 in scientific fields. Almost all Chinese science organisations publish their own journal. The government owns or supports most journals with only a small number being privately owned. The "publish or perish
"Publish or perish" is an aphorism describing the pressure to publish academic work in order to succeed in an academic career. Such institutional pressure is generally strongest at research universities. Some researchers have identified the pub ...
" system has been argued to contribute to many low quality journals and articles that are infrequently cited and also to plagiarism and fraud. The Chinese government has put into place stricter regulations, punished or terminated some journals, and aims increase quality control and peer evaluation of journals as well as to create five to ten large publishing groups. As part of the reforms, in 2012 the China Association for Science and Technology
The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST; ) is a mass organization of Chinese scientists and engineers, which is composed of multiple national professional societies and hundreds of branches at various local and international level ...
, which oversees 1,050 journals, in a declaration listed various forms of misconduct, plagiarism, and fraud and as well, the penalties for perpetrating them such as written warnings, blacklisting, contacting the researcher's home institution or funding agencies, or public disclosure. It has also been seen as important by increasing pressure on other journals and by informing editors who may not know that some actions such as favoring researchers based on personal relations are unacceptable. China also plans to give substantial financial incentives to top journals based on factors such as their Chinese and international impact factor
The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a scientometric index calculated by Clarivate that reflects the yearly mean number of citations of articles published in the last two years in a given journal, as ...
. It has been questioned if this will have an effect on the many poor quality journals who in return for money help researchers fill their institutional requirements for published papers.
State-owned enterprises
Chinese state-owned enterprises are owned by a variety of actors such as local governments and governmental agencies. They may benefit from advantages not available for smaller, more innovative firms which have been seen as problematic. In 2010 state owned enterprises won many biddings for renewable energy projects since they did not have worry about paying off investments for several decades and could ignore risks and costs. The owners may attempt to protect their enterprises from competition by regulations or otherwise use their influence in an unfair manner which may stifle more innovative, private competitors. Private enterprises surpassed stated owned enterprises during the 2002-2007 period regarding rapidity of increase of research spending, patent applications, and R&D laboratories. The number of research scientists and engineers increased rapidly in private enterprises while they declined in state owned enterprises.[
]
Corruption
Concerned about corruption in Chinese science, some Chinese scientists, including Professor Liu Ming (刘明) of Zhejiang University
Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a national public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of the prestigious C9 League and is selected into the n ...
in his 2005 book ''Critique of the Academic Evaluation System'' (学术评价制度批判), argue that interference from government officials and university bureaucrats makes peer review
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...
far less effective in China than it could be. The time scientists spend cultivating politically influential people is lost to scientific research. Liu argues that the command economy mentality of measuring everything by the numbers combined with pervasive political interference results in a great waste of money, human talent as well as considerable corruption in Chinese science. A 2008 investigation into a certification for high-tech enterprises allowing large tax breaks and other advantages found that more than 70% of the enterprises had gained this under questionable circumstances and an investigation of a sample found that 73% did not pass the requirements.[
]
Awards
The State Science and Technology Prizes, including the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, are the highest honor in People's Republic of China in science and technology, in order to recognize citizens and organizations who have made remarkable contributions to scientific and technological progress, and to promote the development of science and technology.
Specific areas of R&D
The ''13th Five-Year Plan for the National Economy and Social Development'' (2016–2020) will initiate the key Scientific and Technological Innovation 2030 Project in the following key areas: aero-engines and gas turbines; a deep sea station; quantum communication and quantum computers; brain sciences and brain research. The project also encompasses nine other sub-projects, including an innovative seed industry, smart grid, space-terrestrial information network, intelligent manufacturing and robots.
Agriculture
There is a lack of arable land and water which means only new technology can increase the output of Chinese agriculture. Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
former general secretary Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
has therefore called for a "new revolution in agricultural science and technology." Restrictions and regulations concerning genetically modified food
Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...
s have been introduced or proposed after widespread public concern. China has been buying millions of foreign breeder animal as well as large amount of foreign semen and livestock embryos in order to rapidly improve the genetics of Chinese livestock. More advanced agricultural methods such as increasing use of pesticides has contributed to concerns regarding the Food safety in China
Food safety in China is a concern relating to agriculture in the world's most populated country. China's principal crops are rice, corn, wheat, soybeans, and cotton in addition to apples and other fruits and vegetables.USDAbr>China - Key Statistic ...
.
Aquaculture and fishing
In 2008 the fishing industry in China
China has one-fifth of the world's population and accounts for one-third of the world's reported fish production as well as two-thirds of the world's reported aquaculture production. FAO Fact sheetAquaculture in China and Asia It is also a major i ...
accounted for 34% of the global output. Aquaculture in China had more than twice the output of capture fishing and contributed 62.3% of the global aquaculture output. The rapid growth of aquaculture is in part due to Chinese research such as regarding the artificial breeding of carps.
Chemistry, materials science and nanotechnology
A 2012 study found that China's share of academic papers in the field of nanotechnology had increased from less than 10% in 2000 to nearly a quarter in 2009 and had overtaken the United States for first position. However, China was less influential in the top three journals and regarding citations, suggesting a lesser quality. In terms of the density of publication, however, the United States remained ahead, with 68.76 articles on nanotechnology per million inhabitants, compared to 25.44 per million for China in 2014. China was in second place for the number of patents granted. A number of bodies have been created to establish national standards and ensure oversight.
According to the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Science and Technology, China contributed about one-quarter of all academic articles published around the world in materials science and chemistry and 17% of those published in physics between 2004 and 2014 but just 8.7% of those in molecular biology and genetics. This nevertheless represents a steep rise from just 1.4% of the world share of publications in molecular biology and genetics over 1999–2003.
KPMG
KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations.
Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
in 2010 predicted that the Chinese chemical industry will become world's largest producer by 2015. The Chinese government aims to make China self-sufficient regarding petrochemicals and plastics with the exception of the raw feedstock of oil and gas. The Chinese industry is increasing R&D in order to create higher value products using more advanced technology.
Deep sea exploration
China is developing its deep sea exploration capabilities, such as by the Jiaolong
''Jiaolong'' () or ''jiao'' (''chiao'', ''kiao'') is a dragon in Chinese mythology, often defined as a "scaled dragon"; it is hornless according to certain scholars and said to be aquatic or river-dwelling. It may have referred to a species of c ...
submersible, with an eye to future applications such as deep sea mining
Deep sea mining is a growing subfield of experimental seabed mining that involves the retrieval of minerals and deposits from the ocean floor found at depths of or greater. As of 2021, the majority of marine mining efforts are limited to shal ...
.
Electronics and information technology
In 2009 China manufactured 48.3% of the world's televisions, 49.9% of mobile phones, 60.9% of personal computers and 75% of LCD monitors. Indigenously made electronic components have become an important source of recent growth.
Artificial intelligence
On 8 July 2017, the Chinese State Council announced plans to turn China into the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
by 2030, seeking to make the industry worth 1 trillion yuan. The State Council published a three-step road map
A road map, route map, or street map is a map that primarily displays roads and transport links rather than natural geographical information. It is a type of navigational map that commonly includes political boundaries and labels, making it a ...
to that effect in which it outlined how it expects AI to be developed and deployed across a wide number of industries and sectors, such as in areas from the military to city planning. According to the road map, China plans to catch up to current AI world leaders' technological abilities by 2020, make major breakthroughs by 2025 and be the world leader in 2030.
Drones and robotics
China is the leader in drone
Drone most commonly refers to:
* Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft
* Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone
Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to:
...
technology, it is the first country in the world to create large scale transport drones, as well as the first to produce an amphibious drone. Chinese drone companies such as DJI
SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. or Shenzhen DJI Sciences and Technologies Ltd. ( zh, c=深圳大疆创新科技有限公司, p=Shēnzhèn Dà Jiāng Chuàngxīn Kējì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) in full, more popularly known as its trade name DJI, which s ...
and Ehang (Beijing Yi-Hang Creation Science & Technology) conquered majority of the civilian drone industry, with DJI alone dominating 85% of the global market share. Ehang also created the world's first ''flying taxi'' drone, Ehang 184, an eco-friendly
Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...
low altitude autonomous aerial vehicle capable of providing transportation and medium distance communication.
In some regions, such as the Pearl River Delta, manufacturers have problems with labor shortages, raising wages, and higher expectations regarding work from more highly educated young people. This has increased the demand for industrial robot
An industrial robot is a robot system used for manufacturing. Industrial robots are automated, programmable and capable of movement on three or more axes.
Typical applications of robots include welding, painting, assembly, disassembly, pick ...
s. As of 2017, China is the largest user and producer of robotics
Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrate ...
technology, as well as the first country in the world to perform an automated
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
dental implant
A dental implant (also known as an endosseous implant or fixture) is a prosthesis that interfaces with the bone of the jaw or skull to support a dental prosthesis such as a crown, bridge, denture, or facial prosthesis or to act as an orthodo ...
. It is the largest and fastest-growing robotics market in the world, and plans to manufacture at least 100,000 industrial robots annually by 2020.
Software industry
The Chinese software industry in 2010 had a higher than 15% share of the world's software and information service market and had been growing by an average 36% each year during the previous decade. Chinese IT companies have been moving away from narrow downstream services and products to having a full range. China, with the active support of the Chinese government, is a leading pioneer in Internet of Things technology.
According to the China Internet Network Information Center The China Internet Network Information Center (), or CNNIC, is the administrative agency responsible for domain registry affairs of .cn under the Cyberspace Administration of China.
Founded on 3 June 1997, it is now a government department based in ...
there were 751 million internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
users as of 2017, with 53.2% of the population being internet users. The number of mobile internet users reached 724 million, with high penetration rates for mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
s and broadband internet. By 2017, China has the largest e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain managem ...
market in the world, worth US$1.132 trillion, with a significant lead on other markets and almost tripling US market, the second largest.
In 2017, there were more than 1.36 billion mobile subscribers in China, with the number of fixed line subscriptions hitting 310 million. The number of 4G users increased significantly, hitting 932 million by August 2017. By 2020, China plans to adopt 5G network nationwide. State-owned China Telecom
China Telecom Corp., Ltd. is a Chinese telecommunications company. It is one of the red chip listed companies of state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation. Its H shares have been traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since 15 Nove ...
has already deployed 5G-oriented C-RAN fronthaul network, unveiling that it will be conducting commercial trials of 5G technology in 2019 and carry out network field trials in six Chinese cities in the latest sign of China's determination to lead the global deployment of the next-generation mobile technology.
Microprocessors
China has its own versions of microprocessors, manufactured and developed domestically, which are also used to build the world's most powerful supercomputers.
Supercomputing
Supercomputing in China has expanded rapidly. Supercomputing affects the possibility to do cutting-edge research in many areas such as design of pharmaceuticals, cryptanalysis, natural resource
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...
exploration, climate model
Numerical climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the important drivers of climate, including atmosphere, oceans, land surface and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the c ...
s, and military technology
Military technology is the application of technology for use in warfare. It comprises the kinds of technology that are distinctly military in nature and not civilian in application, usually because they lack useful or legal civilian applicatio ...
. As of 2017, China had 202 of the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world, far exceeding any other country (including the US which has 143), in addition to possessing the top 2 most powerful supercomputers. China is developing the capacity to manufacture the components domestically and plans to be the first to build an exascale supercomputer. China may also be planning to create much more powerful large-scale distributed supercomputing by connecting its supercomputer centers together. Tianhe-1
Tianhe-I, Tianhe-1, or TH-1 (, ; '' Sky River Number One'') is a supercomputer capable of an Rmax (maximum range) of 2.5 peta FLOPS. Located at the National Supercomputing Center of Tianjin, China, it was the fastest computer in the world fro ...
was for a period in 2010-2011 the world's fastest supercomputer. In June 2013, Tianhe-2
Tianhe-2 or TH-2 (, i.e. 'Milky Way 2') is a 33.86- petaflops supercomputer located in the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou, China. It was developed by a team of 1,300 scientists and engineers.
It was the world's fastest supercomputer ...
, the successor to Tianhe-1, took the crown from its predecessor. In 2016, China's new supercomputer, Sunway TaihuLight became the world's most powerful supercomputer, significantly surpassing Tianhe-2's capabilities by three folds, while using Chinese-made chips. This signals China's success not only in the supercomputing industry, but also its domestic chip-making technology.
Semiconductors
China's semiconductor industry has, despite extensive governmental support, had many problems, such as innovative new designs. This may be due to factors such as poorly guided state and local government support for soon outdated technologies and geographically scattered efforts, lacking engineering education, and poor protection of intellectual property. However various trends may change this, such a new emphasis on market mechanisms rather than direct support, concentration of efforts, the return of Chinese who have studied abroad, increased pressure on foreign companies to transfer technology, indigenous Chinese technological standards, and increased demands for indigenous technology in the local market.
The country has rapidly progressed in the semiconductor industry, while backing its largest chip maker and developer, Tsinghua Unigroup
Tsinghua Unigroup is a Chinese technology and semiconductor manufacturer that also supplies digital infrastructure and services to domestic and global markets. Based in Beijing, it is among the country’s largest technology conglomerates; subsid ...
, with a US$150 billion funding to secure China's dominance in the semiconductor technology, and build a world-class semiconductor industry over the next 5 years. However, as of 2020 China has to achieve dominance.
Entertainment
The Chinese animation
Chinese animation refers to animation made in China. In China and in Chinese, donghua ( zh, s=动画, t=動畫, p=dònghuà) describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. However, outside of China and in English, ''donghua'' is col ...
industry and access to the latest technology, such as 3D computer-generated imagery technology, is actively supported by the Chinese government and included in the latest national planning. In part, this may be because of a desire to increase Chinese soft power. The same technology as in Hollywood is available and much postproduction
Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments.
Th ...
is outsourced to China. Successful indigenous artistic creativity is seen as a problem and may be restricted by factors such as production being aimed at getting government patronage rather than public approval, censorship, and some storylines based on Chinese culture not appealing to foreign audiences. DreamWorks Animation, in a joint venture with Chinese companies, will set up a studio in Shanghai that may eventually get bigger than DreamWorks HQ, in part to avoid to quota restrictions on foreign films with China within a decade having been predicted to become the world's biggest cinema and entertainment market. Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
has also entered into a partnership in order to help develop the Chinese animation industry.
The China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology and the China Film Group Corporation
China Film Group Corporation (CFGC), is the largest, most influential film enterprise in the People's Republic of China, owned by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party. According to ''Forbes'', it is a state monopoly that al ...
developed and in 2012 put into commercial use the DMAX motion picture film format
A film format is a technical definition of a set of standard characteristics regarding image capture on photographic film for still images or film stock for filmmaking. It can also apply to projected film, either slides or movies. The primary c ...
as well as associated technologies. It has been described as a competitor to IMAX and as laying the foundation for Chinese film projection technology using indigenous Chinese technology and intellectual property.
Environment-friendly technologies
Rapid industrialization has been accompanied by many environmental problems
Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...
and rising pollution in China
Pollution in China is one aspect of the broader topic of environmental issues in China. Various forms of pollution have increased as China has industrialised, which has caused widespread environmental health problems.Jared Diamond, '' Collapse: ...
. One part of the Chinese response involves advanced technology such as the world's largest high-speed rail network and high fuel efficiency requirements for vehicles. China is rapidly expanding its wastewater
Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industrial ...
treatment systems and power plant emission reduction systems. Due to the Chinese water crisis, as well as for future exports, China is building up its desalination technological abilities and plans to create an indigenous industry. Some cities have introduced extensive water conservation
Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Popula ...
and recycling programmes and technologies.
Health
Biotechnology and genetics
Monitor Group
Monitor Deloitte is the multinational strategy consulting practice of Deloitte Consulting. Monitor Deloitte specializes in providing strategy consultation services to the senior management of major organizations and governments. It helps its clie ...
in a 2010 report predicted that China within a decade will become the world leader in discovery and innovation in life science
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy t ...
s. Some research is seen as less controversial in China than elsewhere such as research regarding the genetic causes of intelligence. BGI, formerly Beijing Genomics Institute, has been described as having the world's largest DNA sequencing facilities.
Stem cell research and stem cell treatments are less controversial in Chinese culture which have supported Chinese research as well medical tourism
Medical tourism refers to people traveling abroad to obtain medical treatment. In the past, this usually referred to those who traveled from less-developed countries to major medical centers in highly developed countries for treatment unavailable a ...
to China in order to receive experimental and often unproven therapies. In 2012 a regulatory crackdown was instituted which may increase the ability of the Chinese industry to get approval for sales of future therapies to other nations. More generally, China aims and has made progress towards becoming a world leader in regenerative medicine
Regenerative medicine deals with the "process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function". This field holds the promise of engineering damaged tissues and organs by st ...
which also includes areas such as tissue engineering
Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of cells, engineering, materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintain, improve, or replace different types of biolog ...
and gene therapy
Gene therapy is a medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying human DN ...
.
China in 2011 stated that biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...
(including biopharmacy, biological engineering, bio-agriculture and biomanufacturing) was a major priority for science and technology spending. Biotechnology will be used to enhance economic development as well as for improving Chinese environmental protection, nutrition, healthcare, and medicine. The Chinese governments expects biotechnology to add 1 million jobs during the 2011-2015 period.
Brain research
On 22 March 2018, an agreement was signed establishing the Chinese Institute for Brain Science, Beijing. The launch of this institute may represent a significant departure from the current policy focus on applied research and development.
Once completed, the new brain institute will serve as a core facility for the country's planned project to study the human brain. The institute will not be part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Rather, it will collaborate with the academy, along with Beijing's other leading biomedical institutions, including Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
The new institute will probably receive funding both from the National Natural Science Foundation and from the mega-science programmes within the Scientific and Technological Innovation 2030 Project. In March 2018, the government announced plans to place the National Natural Science Foundation under the Ministry of Science and Technology but the implications of this latest reorganization of science are unclear, as the two agencies have different missions in support of basic research.
Pharmaceuticals and medical technology
Merrill Lynch predicted in 2011 that China would become the world's second largest pharmaceutical market in 2013 and the largest in 2020. The chief executive of Hoffmann-La Roche in 2012 stated a few years ago many Chinese life sciences scientists had to leave China but that many were now returning to conditions often better than in the West regarding laboratories, funding, and political support for the industry. Counterfeit drug
A counterfeit medication or a counterfeit drug is a medication or pharmaceutical item which is produced and sold with the intent to deceptively represent its origin, authenticity, or effectiveness. A counterfeit drug may contain inappropriate qua ...
s have caused a number of scandals as well as being a problem for drug development and authorities have increased regulations and enforcement.
A 2011 report by PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
stated that a decade earlier China barely had any presence in the medical technology industry but its abilities had been rapidly growing. China could well become more important than Europe by 2020.
Machine tools
Development of advanced machine tool
A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. All ...
s, such as computer numerical control machine tools, are seen as a priority and supported by the Chinese government. China is the world's leading producer and consumer of machine tools. A 2010 US government report stated that US export controls of advanced five axis machine tools were ineffectual due to the technical capabilities of Chinese and Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
ese manufacturers.
Military technology
One example of new Chinese military technology is the DF-21D
The Dong-Feng 21 (DF-21; NATO reporting name CSS-5 - Dong-Feng () is a two-stage, solid-fuel rocket, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) in the Dong Feng series developed by China Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics Technology A ...
anti-ship ballistic missile
An anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) is a military ballistic missile system designed to hit a warship at sea.
Due to the often hypersonic flight speed of ballistic missiles an ASBM's kinetic energy alone may be sufficient to cripple or outri ...
which reportedly has contributed to a quick and major change in US naval strategy. China is developing anti-satellite weapon
Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic or tactical
purposes. Several nations possess operational ASAT systems. Although no ASAT system has been utilised in warfare, a few ...
s and plans to make the navigational Beidou system global by 2020. Other new technologies include Chinese anti ballistic missile developments, the Chengdu J-20 fifth-generation jet fighter
A fifth-generation fighter is a jet fighter aircraft classification which includes major technologies developed during the first part of the 21st century. , these are the most advanced fighters in operation. The characteristics of a fifth-gene ...
, and possibly electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also a transient electromagnetic disturbance (TED), is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. Depending upon the source, the origin of an EMP can be natural or artificial, and can occur as an electromagnetic fi ...
weapons. Chinese reconnaissance satellites are, according to a 2011 report, almost equal to those of the United States in some areas in which China had almost no capability a decade earlier. Despite increased defense spending, China's share of the world's import of arms is rapidly falling, in part reflecting the increased abilities of the indigenous military production. China is also developing power projection military capabilities such as through the Chinese aircraft carrier programme
Since the 1970s, China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has had ambitions to develop and operate aircraft carriers, and since 1985 has acquired four retired aircraft carriers for study; namely, the British-built Australian and the ex-S ...
and the Type 071 amphibious transport dock
The Type 071 (NATO reporting name: Yuzhao) is a class of Chinese amphibious transport dock ships in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The Type 071 provides the PLAN with capabilities and flexibility not found in its previo ...
.
15-28% of governmental R&D expenditures may go to military research according to some unofficial estimates. The Chinese defense sector remains almost completely state-owned but military equipment production has been reorganized into corporate bodies allowing limited competition and the defense patent system has been reformed to allow greater rewards to innovative enterprises and individuals. The organizational structure has shed civilian applications while at the same time cooperation with the civilian sector has increased and state supported civilian research sometimes have dual use applications. Chinese jet engines remains a problematic area that has caused concern at the highest levels with China still being largely dependent on imports from foreign manufacturers. One possible explanation is a continued Soviet style fragmentation of the research and production line into many isolated units having little contact with one another causing problems with overall standardization, integration, and quality control. More problems from this may be duplication of efforts, dispersal of efforts, and unproductive competition over patronage causing problems such as dishonest reporting of problems. High precision jet engines may be particularly sensitive to accumulated quality problems.
History of China's hydrogen bomb
China successfully tested a hydrogen bomb on June 17, 1967, at Lop Nur Nuclear Weapon Test Base, in Malan, Xinjiang (also known as "Test No. 6"). China became the fourth country to have successfully developed a thermonuclear weapon
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a low ...
after the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
and the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The device was dropped from a Hong-6 (Chinese manufactured Tu-16
The Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO reporting name: Badger) is a twin-engined jet strategic heavy bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has been flown for almost 70 years, and the Chinese license-built Xian H-6 remains in service with the People's Liberati ...
) and was parachute-retarded for an airburst at 2960 meters. The bomb was a three-stage device with a boosted U-235
Uranium-235 (235U or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exist ...
primary and U-238 pusher. The yield was 3.3 megatons
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a m ...
.
It was a fully functional, full-scale, three-stage hydrogen bomb, tested 32 months after China had made its first fission device. China thus produced the shortest fission-to-fusion development known in history. China had received extensive technical help from the Soviet Union to jump-start their nuclear program, but by 1960, the rift between the Soviet Union and China had become so great that the Soviet Union ceased all assistance to China. ">/sup> Thus, the Number 6 test was indeed an independent endeavor, after the induced military and economic sanctions enacted by the superpowers at the time, the United States and the Soviet Union.
China's H-bomb was different from the traditional Teller-Ulam configuration. As an advantage, it was completed without the calculations needed from supercomputers, which would consume a lot of time. To shrink the size of the weapon, the reflectors were made parabolic with the solid fusion fuel located at the foci. It is also known as Yu Min Design (or Yu-Deng Deng may refer to:
* Deng (company), is a Danish engineering, electrical, solar power and sales company in Accra, Ghana
* Deng (state), an ancient Chinese state
* Deng (Chinese surname), originated from the state
** Deng Xiaoping, paramount leader ...
Design) as Yu Min made major contributions including the solutions to a series of fundamental and critical theoretical problems of nuclear weapons, which led to breakthrough of the unique hydrogen bomb.
The goal of China was to produce a thermonuclear device of at least a megaton in yield that could be dropped by an aircraft or carried by a ballistic missile. Several explosions to test thermonuclear weapon designs, characteristics and yield boosting preceded the thermonuclear test. ">/sup>
Mining and rare earth industry
Advisory firm The Beijing Axis director Lilian Luca in 2010 stated that China was becoming a world leader in mining technology. Technological solutions were initially concentrated on achieving massive low-cost production but increasing emphasis has been placed on environmental and safety issues in part reflecting greater concern in China with environmental issues. China was already a world leader in certain areas such as rare earth elements. China has imposed export quotas on rare earth elements, 95% of which are mined in China, citing environmental issues, but has been accused of wanting to force high-tech industry using rare earth elements to move to China.
Finding rare earth elements is only the first and some argue the easiest step. Other steps towards manufacturing such as refining is controlled by China and Japan with the previously dominant United States having lost all of its producers and much of its fundamental technological ability with the number of scientists and engineers in the area declining dramatically.
Polar research
The Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration
The Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration (), often abbreviated as the CAA (previously the Chinese Antarctic Administration of the State Antarctic Research Committee), is a Beijing-based agency of the People's Republic of China's State Ocea ...
(CAA) organizes China's scientific programme for both the Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
and Antarctic. Polar research by China, in particular in Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
, has been growing rapidly. China now has three Antarctic research stations and one in the Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
on the Norwegian island of Svalbard.
Space science
The Chinese space program
The space program of the People's Republic of China is directed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). China's space program has overseen the development and launch of ballistic missiles, thousands of artificial satellites, manned ...
is a major source of national pride. In 1970 the first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I
''Dong Fang Hong 1'' (), in the western world also known as China 1 or PRC 1, was the first space satellite of the People's Republic of China (PRC), launched successfully on 24 April 1970 as part of the PRC's Dongfanghong space satellite prog ...
, was launched. In 2003 China become the third country to independently send humans into space with Yang Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzhou 5. In 2008 China conducted a spacewalk with the Shenzhou 7
Shenzhou 7 () was the third human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program. The mission, which included the first Chinese extra-vehicular activity (EVA) carried out by crew members Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming, marked the commencement o ...
mission. In 2011 Tiangong-1
Tiangong-1 () was China's first prototype space station. It orbited Earth from September 2011 to April 2018, serving as both a crewed laboratory and an experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities during its ...
was launched which was the first step towards a Chinese space station around 2020. The active Chinese Lunar Exploration Program
The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP; ), also known as the Chang'e Project () after the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e, is an ongoing series of robotic Moon missions by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The program incorpor ...
includes a lunar rover in 2013 and possibly a crewed lunar landing
A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959.
The United S ...
in the 2020s. Experience gained from the lunar program will be used for future programs such as exploration of Mars
The planet Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding its geology and habi ...
and Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
.
China plans to launch 5 commercial satellites for foreign customers in 2012 and aims to capture 15% of the commercial launch market and 10% of the satellite export market by 2015. In 2011 China launched a total of 19 rockets, which was the second most after Russia.
The Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST; ), nicknamed Tianyan (, lit. "Sky's/Heaven's Eye"), is a radio telescope located in the Dawodang depression (), a natural basin in Pingtang County, Guizhou, southwest China. FAST ...
, completed in 2016, is the world's largest radio telescope.
Textiles
China in 2012 produced more than one-third of the developed world's apparel import but the share has been decreasing in recent years as low-technology and labor-intensive production has been moving to regions like Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.
Transportation
Transportation infrastructure continues to be rapidly developed. The National Trunk Highway System
The expressway network of China, with the national-level expressway system officially known as the National Trunk Highway System (; abbreviated as NTHS), is an integrated system of national and provincial-level Controlled-access highway, expres ...
was in 2011 estimated to surpass the US interstate system in length. Many Chinese cities have or are planning to build metros or other forms of rapid transit.
Commercial aircraft
The state owned Comac
, type = State-owned limited company
, industry = Aviation
, founded =
, founder =
, location_city = Pudong, Shanghai
, location_country = China
, area_served = Worldwide
, products = Commercial airliners
, services =
, key_people ...
aerospace manufacturer
An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology indust ...
aims to reduce Chinese dependency on foreign companies for large passenger aircraft. The future C919
The Comac C919 is a narrow-body airliner developed by Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac.
The development program was launched in 2008. Production of the prototype began in December 2011, with the first prototype being ready on 2 November 201 ...
aims to be completely made in China.
Motor vehicles
The automotive industry in China
The automotive industry in China has been the largest in the world measured by automobile unit production since 2008. Since 2009, annual production of automobiles in China accounted for more than 32% of worldwide vehicle production, exceeding b ...
is the world's largest producer of motor vehicles. However, China's indigenous car companies have had difficulties on the global market and the growing electric vehicle market has been seen as way to remedy this. China in 2010 proposed controversial legislation requiring foreign electric vehicle producers to form minority joint-venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
s and share technologies with Chinese carmakers in order to get market access. A 2011 report financed by the World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
stated that China was becoming the world leader on electric vehicles.
Shipbuilding
In 2009-2010 China become the world's largest shipbuilder
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
but South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
regained the top position in 2011 in part due to more advanced technology. China is developing its technological abilities and competition is expected to increase.
Trains
The BBC wrote in a 2011 article on high-speed rail in China
The high-speed rail (HSR) network in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the world's longest and most extensively used – with a total length of by the end of 2021. The HSR network encompasses newly built rail lines with a design speed ...
that China in 2005 had no high-speed railways. In 2010 it had more than Europe and in 2012 China was expected to have more than the rest of the world combined. China demanded that foreign companies wanting to participate had to share their technology. Some 10,000 Chinese engineers and academics then in three years produced a faster Chinese high-speed train that China is now exporting to other nations.
See also
*CERNET
The China Education and Research Network (CERNET; ) is the first nationwide education and research computer network in China. The CERNET project is funded by the Chinese government and directly managed by the Chinese Ministry of Education. It is c ...
*Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...
*Chinese Academy of Engineering
The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...
*Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...
*China–United States trade war (2018–present)
The China–United States trade war () is an ongoing economic conflict between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America. In January 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump began setting tariffs and other trade barriers on Chin ...
*CSTNET CSTNET or China Science and Technology Network () offers Internet services to the Chinese education, research, scientific and technical communities, relevant government departments and hi-tech enterprises, providing services such as network access, ...
*
*List of Chinese inventions
China has been the source of many innovations, scientific discoveries and inventions. This includes the '' Four Great Inventions'': papermaking, the compass, gunpowder, and printing (both woodblock and movable type). The list below contains th ...
*Made in China 2025
Made in China 2025 ()[Made in China 2025](_blank)
. CSIS, June 1, 2015. (MIC25, MIC 2025, or ...
*Science in newly industrialized countries Scientific research is concentrated in the developed world, with only a marginal contribution from the rest of the world. Many newly industrialized countries have been trying to establish scientific institutions, but with limited success. There is a ...
References
Citations
Sources
*
External links
Ministry of Science and Technology
China Association for Science and Technology
(CAST)
SciTech: Popular Science in China
China Radio International
Chinese Science and the 'Nobel Prize Complex'
by Cong Cao
Erik Zürcher, International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) Newsletter
* ttp://nanoecosystem.cn Nanotechnology Ecosystem of China
; Videos
Modern Unbelievable High Technologies in China
{{DEFAULTSORT:Science And Technology In China
Science and technology in China,