Science, Technology and Development: China as a “Case Study”

China shares with the developing countries of the third world the broad objective of economic growth, starting from a condition the Chinese themselves describe as “poor and blank” relative to the material resources of the developed countries. Yet “self-reliance” has been the keynote of Chinese policies for ten years, and the Chinese now urge the rest of the third world countries to adopt the same principle for their own development. In broad terms, “development” refers to the improvement of a society's material welfare, resulting from economic growth and from appropriate measures of income distribution. In Chinese and, increasingly, in general usage, such economic growth is identified with the use of production processes and the production of goods new to the developing economy. “Self-reliance” does not necessarily preclude transfer of foreign technologies into the developing country, but specifies technological change which occurs in response to demands arising within the developing economy itself, rather than imposed on it from outside. In any country, demand for technological change and distribution of the fruits of technological advance are dependent on its political and social structure, as well as on economic factors, and on the country's international economic and political bargaining power. China, whose leaders have a particular perception of the implications of these relationships for their development objectives, is an especially significant “case study” of the use of science and technology for national development.