(EST Pub Date) Science and Technology in Communist CHINA Through 1970

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Approved for Release: 2018/01/30
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TCS 4425/65 (W3),
higher than might be expected because of continu-
ing dependence on many of those older scientists
and engineers trained in America and Europe.
Table 4 gives the numbers in each field by group.
77. The quality of students graduating since 1949
varies greatly, depending on when or where the
training was received. In the early 1950's, many
students were graduated after only 2 or 3 years of
study, so urgent was the need for technical per-
sonnel in industry and for teaching. By 1955, the
4-year course was common and 5-year courses
started to be adopted. The quality of training
slipped appreciably during the “great leap forward,”
when radical training schemes were adopted and
much student time was spent in labor on farms and
in factories. By 1961, quality in education once
again was stressed. More time was made available
for study and for laboratory work by cutting down
time spent in labor and political meetings; but,
beginning in late 1964 under the “social rectifica-
tion” program, students and graduates alike were
once again being ordered to “go to the country-side”
to perform menial labor. On the other hand, sev-
eral reforms have brought improvements. The
“open book” method of examination is being intro-
duced to promote independent thinking in place of
the traditional emphasis on rote. The very high
degree of specialization has been reduced; students
are given more training in fundamental principles
in broader fields so that they can be used more
efiiciently as needs for personnel change.
78. The quality of training also has varied be-
tween institutions. Craduates of such general
universities as Peiping, Fu-tan, and Nan-k’ai and
technical universities, such as Tsinghua, Chiao-t’ung
and the China University of Science and Tech-
nology are better trained than those from some
other universities and from most of the specialized
engineering colleges.
79. With total enrollments in universities and
colleges running between 700,000 and 800,000,
shortages of well-trained teachers and laboratory
facilities still remain, but a considerable improve-
ment on both counts is expected by 1970. Despite
shortcomings in China’s educational standards, the
country has made remarkable progress in educating
large numbers of the population to a level never
before attained. Scientific and technical graduates
of the better universities and engineering colleges
are well qualified to participate in significant re-
search and development activities and their num-
bers are increasing. Though many of the college
graduates do not meet Western standards, they can
make a useful contribution to programs for modern-
izing industiy, agriculture, and the military forces.
80. The number of scientists, engineers and tech-
nicians engaged in research and development rose
from a few thousand in 1952 to 32,500 in 1958, not
counting some 10,000 to 20,000 more in universities
and colleges who may have been engaged in some
level of research work. Since 1958, the research
force has continued to expand and is believed to be
approaching 100,000. A force of this size could be
made up only of large numbers of inexperienced or
poorly trained research scientists and support tech-
nicians working with a minimum of competent
leadership. Much of the work done would be rela-
tively low-level research or engineering develop-
ment. According to the Chinese themselves, “only
several thousand . . . are the higher scientific and
technical personnel.” It is these few who are ca-
pable of planning and directing research projects
of significance.
81. A rising rate of increase of well-trained scien-
tists is expected during the next year or two.
For some of these, greater leadership ability will
come with the knowledge and sophistication gained
from being part of China's expanding research pro-
gram over the last 10 years. Other new leaders
will come from more formal programs for advanced
training. China has had 4-year graduate training
programs under way in the Academy of Sciences
and in the universities and colleges. The rate of
training has been severely limited by the small
number of scientists capable of training them.
Progress has also been slowed by. the malpractices
during the “great-leap-forward” period. The
Chinese claim that 12,000 persons have completed
postgraduate training since 1949, but most of them
completed only short-term (1- or 2-year) programs
designed to expand the substandard training of the
early 1950’s and to give better preparation partic-
ularly for teaching. In the fall of 1964, 1,200 new
postgraduate students were accepted in universities
and research institutes, which is an increase over
the 800 of 1963. The proportion destined for 4-
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/01/30 C00659420Approved for Release: 2018
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