ABSTRACT
The opening chapter of this book presents an overview of the formal structures that underpin a 60 plus-year effort in the People’s Republic of China to bypass the costs and risks of indigenous S&T research and to rely instead on foreign technology accessed “by various means” (以多种方式). In part a product of conscious design, in part a consequence of a shared mindset that accords priority to practical achievement, overall serving the state-building ambitions of a Communist Party, this hybrid innovation system built by the PRC is able to draw inspiration from—or appropriate outright—foreign technological successes while activating domestic resources as needed. Chapter 1 discusses the history and evolution of China’s transfer, or appropriation, of foreign technology via legal and extralegal structures, outlines its key venues and techniques, demonstrates the system’s inextricable ties to the state, and punctures some myths about its role in China’s modernization.
