Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
In the second of three articles on the development of science and technology in China, Tong B Tang, research fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge, UK, who visited China at the end of last year, examines scientific services