Science communication in China: a critical component of the global science powerhouse

China has attached a great significance to bringing science to the public—known as kepu (科普, ‘science popularization’) or kexue chuanbo (科学传播, ‘science dissemination’)—in recent years, partly in response to its unprecedented push for innovation in science and technology. In 2018, it spent 16 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) on such endeavours, nearly 80% of which was government funding, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Science and Technology. With one science-education venue for every million people, approximately 76 million visits were made to the country's 518 general-science museums and 142 million visits were made to 943 museums dedicated to a specific subject matter, such as the Geological Museum of China. In a forum chaired by National Science Review’s executive editor-in-chief, Mu-ming Poo, scientists, journalists and public-information officers discussed the differences in science communication between China and developed nations, the challenges and opportunities of raising scientific literacy in China, how it has played out in a wide range of controversial topics, from stem-cell research to climate change, and the importance of international collaboration. [Image: see text] Tao Deng Director of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China [Image: see text] Hepeng Jia Science journalist and science-communication scholar at Soochow University, Suzhou, China [Image: see text] Brian Lin Director of the Editorial Content Strategy, EurekAlert!, American Association of the Advancement of Science, Washington DC, USA [Image: see text] Joy Ma Manager of the Editorial Content, EurekAlert!, American Association of the Advancement of Science, Washington DC, USA [Image: see text] Lai Xu Former chief editor of Guokr.com, Beijing, China [Image: see text] Shi Yan Deputy director of the China Research Institute for Science Popularisation, Chinese Association of Science and Technology, Beijing, China [Image: see text] Mu-ming Poo (Chair) Director of the Insitute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China