OPINION CHINA NATURE|Vol 454|24 July 2008 ecological sustainability, and aims to address should be relaxed, and what should succeed University, Beijing 100084, China. the damaging social, ecological and environ- it. In recent years, Chinese demographers and e-mail: [email protected] mental effects of the current growth model. It policy-makers have begun to try to identify a Gang Zhang is principal administrator in the encourages public organizations to take part in fertility rate that would balance the population. Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry crafting social, environmental and industrial This time it seems more likely that China will at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation policies. For example, the recent reforms to set a rational policy, having much improved its and Development, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. the health-care system involved more than six scientific policy-making system. ■ organizations, including universities, research Ling Chen is an assistant professor in the School See Editorial, page 367, and News Special Report, institutions, foreign consulting companies and of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua page 374. international bodies, who submitted proposals that were then debated within and outside the government. Science is playing an increasingly important role beyond providing justifications for government policies. Chinese policy-makers now have dramati- ASSOCIATES RTKL cally different educational backgrounds and characteristics from their predecessors. Between the 1950s and 1960s, veteran soldiers with lim- ited education held almost all major govern- ment posts. In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping’s new criteria of cadre selection promoted middle- Beijing’s new science centre will be the first of many in China. aged officials with engineering backgrounds into senior positions, resulting in a government dominated by technocrats. In the 1990s, those with degrees and experience in economics and A museum in every district public management gradually moved to the centre of politics. Hopefully, future generations China Science and Technology Museum The country’s current 15-year strategic of Chinese policy-makers will be equipped with Olympic Village, Beijing plan for science and technology, announced social, political and legal knowledge conducive Opening September 2009 in February 2006, prioritizes the improve- to an enhanced understanding of the human ment of public understanding in these areas. impact of public policies and the significance of Infrastructure is the first step. All 34 districts in scientific policy-making. With up to 30,000 visitors a day, China plan to have at least one science museum The family-planning policy has had both the Beijing-based China Sci- in their capital cities by 2010, adding to the 40 negative and positive effects on Chinese soci- ence and Technology Museum or so already in existence. More than a dozen ety. It has produced an alarmingly wide gender is grossly oversubscribed. In are under construction, including what will gap in the sector of the population born after response, China is building be the world’s largest science museum when it the 1980s, and an inverted pyramid demo- another one more than twice the size, costing opens in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. graphic that will be challenging to care for in 2 billion yuan (US$300 million). The museum Many applaud China’s political and finan- the coming decades. The effects of a generation (artist’s impression, pictured) will open in Bei- cial commitment to science communication. of ‘little kings’ on Chinese society and culture jing’s Olympic Village in September 2009, in a But some critics, such as science historian Liu remain to be seen. However, the policy seems building designed to resemble an ancient Chi- Bing of the Centre of Science, Technology and to have helped China move into the fast-lane of nese puzzle, the Lock of Luban. Society at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, are economic development. It may also have accel- The museum will showcase scientific and concerned that the quality of exhibitions and erated the improvement of the population’s technological developments in all disciplines, events may not be up to scratch. Some provin- well-being, as evinced by higher education from agriculture, geology, alternative energy cial science museums also fail to attract signifi- levels and lower infant mortality rates. and environmental protection to space explora- cant visitor numbers, and there are few public In reality, the family-planning policy was tion, as well as inventions from ancient China. debates on topical or controversial issues such never fully implemented. Ethnic minorities and There will be an exhibition hall for children, as traditional Chinese medicine, stem-cell rural peoples — the majority of China’s popula- who are expected to constitute half of the visi- therapies and genetically modified crops. tion — could in practice have two or more chil- tors. With running costs of 150 million yuan a Zhu concedes that there is much room for dren, if not by policy design, then by paying an year, the building will boast the world’s largest improvement. So Beijing’s new science museum economic, political and social cost, such as in dome video screen and laboratories where par- will foster closer collaborations with its coun- lost public-sector jobs or heavy fines. And from ticipants can do short research projects. terparts elsewhere in the country and abroad. 1984, rural residents whose first child was female “The new museum is emblematic of China’s It also plans to host seminars and workshops at were allowed to have a second child. China’s real long-term commitment to science commu- which scientists, policy-makers and the public fertility was thus estimated to be around 1.8 chil- nication,” says Zhu Youwen, director of the can debate crucial scientific matters. dren per family in 2006. However, according to a venue’s planning and development. In June 2002 Some hurdles must still be overcome, Zhu study in 2006, there are no accurate data because China’s top legislature, the Standing Commit- explains. Public participation in Chinese policy- of missing birth registration records that have tee of the National People’s Congress, passed a making is a new concept to all involved. Govern- resulted in a hidden population. bill on the dissemination of developments in ment officials are not yet reconciled to having to It is now vital to determine if the policy science and technology to the public. justify political decisions to the populace, nor 404 NATURE|Vol 454|24 July 2008 CHINA OPINION are scientists used to explaining their research to Stephen Minger of King’s College London and “There is a lot of interest in science and tech- a general audience. As a result, much of China’s his Chinese colleagues had lively exchanges nology from all sectors of the Chinese public,” population is insufficiently informed about sci- about stem-cell therapies with audiences of all says Liu. “To channel that energy and curiosity ence and technology issues. “It’s an important ages and professions. Last month, the Beijing- properly is key to promoting the awareness of aspect of building a more democratic society,” based National Art Museum of China mounted science and its social impact.” ■ says Zhu. “It will come with time.” an exhibition called Synthetic Times. Prominent Jane Qiu is a science writer based in London and Yet people in China are eager to obtain more installation artists from 29 countries explored Beijing. information and voice their views. In Shanghai, issues such as identity, emotion, perception of e-mail: [email protected] at one of several ‘café scientifique’ events organ- reality, and the relationship between humans ized by the British Council, stem-cell researcher and technology in time and space. See Editorial, page 367. A shared view of the heavens A woodcut of Ferdinand Verbiest, the Kangxi Emperor’s Flemish astronomer and mastermind of Beijing’s Ancient Observatory, records a remarkable seventeenth-century cultural exchange. Martin Kemp explains. Ferdinand Verbiest: Heaven on Earth instruments and their manufacture, but also Museum of the History of Science demonstrating Euclidian geometry, ballistics Oxford, UK and various notable feats of engineering. The Until 7 September graphic technique of his illustrations exploits western-style draftsmanship for the instru- Not far from Beijing station, in ments themselves, whereas the spaces within a cityscape dominated by new which they are located are drawn in the Chinese buildings and multi-lane high- manner. Thus, the celestial globe is rendered in ways, stands a squat, ancient a convincingly plastic form, but the chequer- tower. On top sits the world’s board tiling beneath it clearly does not observe greatest historical ensemble of large-scale the rules of linear perspective. LIBRARY BRITISH MUSEUM/BRIDGEMAN ART astronomical instruments. They were mainly The intellectual traffic between China and designed and installed in 1673 by Ferdinand Europe went both ways. The presence of the Verbiest, the Flemish Jesuit who was mathema- Jesuit scientists at the Chinese court led to a tician and astronomer to the Kangxi Emperor. greater awareness in Europe of the richness of Verbiest makes a striking appearance in a col- Chinese history, culture, science and technol- oured 1827 woodcut (pictured) by the Japanese ogy. The thoughts of Confucius were made artist, Utagawa Kuniyoshi. He stands in Chinese available to western philosophers when the state robes, accompanied by smaller variants of first Latin edition of Confucius, Philosopher his celestial globe and sextant while enumerat- of the Chinese was published in Paris in 1686, ing points on his fingers. The inscription on the prefaced by introductions to Chinese history, print tells us that it portrays Chitasei Goyo, one theology and the philosopher’s own life. of the 108 rogue heroes of the popular classi- The reach of Verbiest’s fame, and of his splen- cal Chinese novel, Water Margin.