At an opening ceremony of the Chinese Science Association in September, Guangzhao Zhou, former president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, noted some undesirable tendencies in the Chinese scientific community — a rush to get results, imitative work, a fixation on getting large numbers of publications, overstatement of scientific achievements, hesitation in engaging in academic debate and lack of interdisciplinary collaboration. Even worse, he noted, some people engage in unethical conduct such as scientific fraud, self-promotion and plagiarism.

Despite such criticisms, the development of China's research has an air of inevitability. Beijing and Shanghai are buzzing with scientific activity as the government has recruited many promising young scientists from abroad. These are mostly ethnic Chinese, whose families came from mainland China, although Tsinghua University recently appointed its first Western chair of department — in industrial engineering. Like all developing countries, China is looking to new technology for industrial applications. But it has also been far-sighted enough to pour money into fundamental research initiatives that have the makings of world-class science (see page 240).

But low salaries mean that many researchers depend greatly on grants or other rewards, such as those given for publications in major scientific journals. Reliance on frequent publication for evaluation puts excessive pressure on researchers, even more than in the West. Scientists are too often tempted to submit reports of work that represents only a promising start. To bear fruit requires time, and it is not clear that China is willing to be patient.

The Chinese government needs to give more researchers, both academic and applied, better salaries and a firm footing so that they do not need to scramble for proof of their worthiness. Academic researchers should be encouraged to apply their research, and science should be capitalized on wherever possible. For what China needs is an industrial base that can support research that will complement the work done in universities and academy institutes. Only then can the government's burden of overseeing most scientific research be lightened. But application of science, like good academic results, also takes time.

To evaluate new technology properly will require a strong private industrial base that is in the business of long-term profitability, not state-owned companies out to impress government with flashy products and a quick profit. And to evaluate researchers for grants without depending solely on past publications, China needs to establish a wider network of external reviewers.

China's scientific development seems inexorable. It has assembled considerable human and financial resources. But unless it makes wise policies now, much of this money and talent will be wasted.