ABSTRACT
The relationship between science and politics in the Nationalist and Communist areas of China during the War of Resistance is important for understanding not only the nature of China’s wartime resistance, but the subsequent development of science in that country as well. In both Nationalist- and Communist-ruled areas, the interests of the political leadership and of the scientific and technical community were overlapping but not completely congruent. Political and scientific-technical elites shared a commitment to apply scientific knowledge and skills to the immediate needs of production and defense. However, the government authorities wanted that commitment to be total, while the scientists, teachers, and scholars reserved a place for more basic learning. They valued research into the fundamental workings of nature and wanted education to be rooted in theoretical foundations. This the politicians considered a waste of time and resources.
