ABSTRACT
China is embarking upon the Four Modernizations with a reasonably well-developed system of Research and Development (R&D) institutions. To understand the institutional structure for research and development in China, it is important to look beyond R&D institutions per se and examine the whole process of technological innovation. Research arid development in the ministerial sector before the Cultural Revolution consumed the greatest share of the national R&D budget and absorbed the greatest number of R&D personnel. In the production ministries, the organizational pattern for R&D was characterized by a series of research and design institutes, which were under the jurisdiction of individual ministries and supported ministerial missions. The dramatic changes that began to affect Chinese science and technology in 1977 are in the direction of re-establishing pre-Cultural Revolution patterns. China's scientific and technological development will be linked to the continuation of a reasonably stable political environment.
