Science and Technology in Post-Mao China

Edited by Denis Fred Simon

Edited by Merle Goldman

    This careful and realistic overview of China's past and present technological state presents an even-handed, historical account of the transition from Nationalist to Communist policies toward science and scientists...Well-integrated chapters make this an informative, readable, and fascinating account of China's love-hate relationship with technology. Anyone who wants to understand the vagaries of Chinese policy toward science and foreign influences should enjoy this book.
       --Martha R. O'Kennon, Science Books & Films

    The essays cover an impressive range of topics...The book offers a very valuable balance-sheet for professional analysts of China's economic and scientific policies, and its case studies in particular may prove useful background reading for foreign businessmen dealing with corporate strategy and tactics. Since the whole economic reforms involve a fine balancing act between central planning and free market forces, between central control and the delegation and decentralization of power and authority--vital issues in developing countries of the Third and Second World--a book about the way China grapples with these problems should prove interesting also for comparative studies in modernization theory.
       --Stefan B. Polter, Asian Affairs

    Thanks to this original, clear, and vital collection, the place of technical and scientific issues in China today and in the near future can be understood by all. The editors have assembled 14 essays by established, respected specialists. Despite the variety of subjects--ranging from historical precedents, through present-day domestic policy emphases, to technology transfer from abroad--masterful introductory and concluding chapters draw everything into a unified survey that will serve intermediate and advanced students and observers of contemporary Chinese developments.
       --Choice

    The studies brought together in this solid, meaty volume appear to add up to a fairly comprehensive treatment of China's present scientific and technological condition...The book is a valuable addition to the literature relating to the relationship between science and the state, in the particular context of a centrally planned economy subjected to the rigorous primacy of political ideology.
       --A. J. Robertson, Business History

  • Cover: Science and Technology in Post-Mao China
  • A photo of the author

Merle Goldman is Professor of History, Emerita, at Boston University and Associate of the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University.