Will China dominate science?

China is fast becoming a world leader in science, but should the world worry? Our deputy editor, Ed Carr, examines the impact of China's scientific expansion.

Daily Watch: mind-stretching short films throughout the working week.

[BorisG]

British accent sometimes makes one sound smart, sometimes makes one sound evil. This video demonstrated the later.

[syedhoda]

This is a very hypocritical hit piece. China is better than US. China has not created terrorist network like ISIS and used it to destroy Syria and other countries. China did not do the 9/11 false-flag attack and started a war of terror. China never created a country like Israel which is causing so many death and destruction in the middle east. Unlike USA, China has not attacked countries far and away in every decade (do anyone need a list of countries US invaded since WW2 ?) As a matter of fact China is a very positive country., it has helped so many countries to develop their economic condition, not like IMF which focuses only on how to make countries poor.

[obsidianstatue]

In regards to point 4 of this video, how will science change China.
It's ridiculous to assume natural science (Biology, Physics, Chemistry Astronomy etc) in China don't have academic freedom. their field of research do not in any way challenge the political system, in fact due to lax regulations, Chinese scientists have way more academic freedom compared to scientists in the West, exemplified by the first genetically modified Human were born as Chinese citizens.

if you want to measure Scientific research output and the quality in terms of research papers, have a look at the Nature Index Ranking, it's the most authoritative objective ranking of a nation's scientific prowess, China is firmly second, a long way ahead of 3rd place Germany, but they still lags behind the US by a sizable margin. in terms of top institutions, Chinese Academy of Sciences is sitting comfortably in the first place.

We are witnessing the reemergence of China dominating scientific research and development.
The funny thing is so many people out there still thinks China just makes plastic toys and Nike shoes.

[cwdqhwd]

China landed her robot at the far side of the moon? Where did she steal the technology from? Did any western countries landed their robots at the far side of the moon before?

[ED-lfwd]

Freedom? Scientists don‘t get this anywhere. They‘re rushed from one fixed-term contract to another, compelled to work on topics that easily generate a nice paper so they can apply for more grant money to continue working on topics that easily generate more nice papers... Science is completely economized and your publication list is your net worth. That’s what the US (and the west) is good at. Economizing stuff.

China manages to motivate its scientists properly by valuing their work and giving meaning to it beyond „high-impact journal publications“. Thus, you don‘t need to „give your scientists freedom and deal with the consequences“. You simply need to give them a working environment in which they can prosper instead of letting them run a degenerate academic rat race. In that regard, China is doing everything right.

[redhidinghood]

Wow this vid is so anti-china its funny

[Daniel-dccy]

Hater always be hater! Follow your own course, china.They are always against you.

[yerri]

Wow...whats with the propaganda The Economist? Cant you report objectively?

[alexweber]

Well China is the new nr.1, it's a fact. Many of my friends, scientists, teachers, doctors etc. here in EU are moving to Bejing and their other cities, not USA anymore..also kids here learning mandarin like crazy..this is the new reality now.

[ufosrus]

They are bound to become the world leaders.

[bakso]

Whose rules do you want China to follow? Yours perhaps? 😒

[gorgeouscfso]

If you care about history at all, you'd realize that in the past thousands of years, China and people of China have always been one of the most powerful if not the most powerful. China has also always been a leader in technology and literature. 

The 20th century happens to be the lowest time in the entire history of the country (partially thanks to decades-long invasion of European countries, Japan and the US). But even at the lowest time of the 20th century China (1960s), they still managed to develop cutting edge technologies such as nuclear weapons, space programs and nuclear submarines with little or no external help. 

China is not becoming a "new power" like the video suggests. Its scientific power is not "expanding" but "recovering". 

The world, especially Europeans, needs to realize that many countries managed to become the "No.1 of the world" at some point, but few can actually constantly stay on top like China for thousands of years.

[william_]

When he talked about China using technology against people, a part of me could not say the US is different, which is the sad reality.

[PomegranateChocolate]

During British rule Hong Kong has only two universities despite the population was close to six and a half million. One is founded by the British and the other is founded by a group of Chinese intellectuals. Needless to say most people don't have a chance to go to college. I always wonder why don't the British Hong Kong government build more universities. After watching this video I think I know why.

[lz]

The only thing left for Britain is the mouth. Britain is in decay for decades but has never been brave enough to admit it. It’s only a little brother of us which is also decaying very fast.

[cz]

Thanks for those objective and rational commentors who point out the hypocrisy in the video. Science belongs to whole human.

[virtuous]

European mindset: zero sum thinking, fear and insecurity, hypocrisy

[varshilshah]

China is already number 1 in the scientific journals and papers published in the world.

[debasishpanda]

Personally as a researcher, I feel they have high precision experimental data than other. Other country like mine i.e India, Usa, europe are good but ...we are running after no. of papers and rarely focusing on quality of the research.
So yeah.. It's going to be the scientific hub for 21st century. I appreciate it.

[ChardonnayWest]

In case anyone is curious, China's annual space budget is smaller than NASA's funding for a single project. The rise of science in China root from education, not capital.