ABSTRACT
The science fund idea, which has been further institutionalized with the formal establishment in February, 1986 of the Chinese Science Foundation, is intended mainly for the support of basic research. The contract research approach is also being used for the procurement of research services for the priority areas of the state's plans. The Chinese have come to realize that the goals they have for the diffusion of ideas and technology, and the linking of technical understanding with economic opportunities to form new high technology industries will be much more difficult to achieve in the absence of the movement of people. China's domestic science reform program is occurring in the midst of what for post-1949 China is an unprecedented interaction with world science and technology. China's leaders face many challenges in seeing the reform program through to its completion, not least of which is the challenge of managing the conflicts which the current course will inevitably produce.
