ABSTRACT
From 1985 on, China’s science and technology policy came to concentrate on the reform of the system itself. The turning-point was the promulgation of the ‘Decision on Reform of the Science and Technology Management System’ (‘The Decision’), which was put into action in the same year. Note that this followed reform in the agricultural sector, which began at the end of the 1970s, and the reform of industrial sectors, which had been decided on just one year previously (in 1984), as mentioned in Chapter 1. The central concern of the Decision was with the problem of the lack of ‘horizontal and regular connection between science and technology and production’. Science and technology had become, in fact, increasingly incompatible with the operations of the agricultural and industrial sectors. In his speech at the 1985 National Working Conference of Science and Technology, former Premier Mr Zhao Ziyang spoke on the advantages and disadvantages of the existing system. This analysis may be seen as a reflection of disappointment with the old methods, based on long experience, including the intensive experiments with the S&T system since the late 1970s. He said:
The current science and technology institution in our country has evolved over the years under special historical situations. The advantages embodied in this system manifested themselves in concerted efforts to tackle major scientific and technological projects, with great success. However, there is growing evidence to show that the system can no longer accommodate the situation in the four modernizations programme, which depends heavily on scientific and technological progress. One of the glaring drawbacks of this system is the disconnection of science and technology from production, a problem which is a source of great concern for all of us.
