Biotech in China

Innovation, Politics, and Economics

Rolf Schmid, Xin Xiong

• Publisher: Jenny Stanford Publishing
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9789814877534
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000294644
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Biotechnology in Medicine

In her quest for global leadership in science and technology, the People's Republic of China has attained top ranks in the number of scientific publications, "hot papers," or national and international patent applications. However, analysis of the underlying structures and mechanisms is hindered by the sheer flood of data, stringent government control of all media, and ambiguities inherent in translation from Chinese. This book overcomes these difficulties and provides a concise picture of biotechnology-related research and development in China. It begins with brief accounts of China's geography, people, political and administrational structure, economy, finance, infrastructure related to science and technology, and educational system. It presents succinct accounts on structures and developments in biomedicine, diagnostics, agriculture, fermented food, bioindustry, and environmental biotechnology, with reference to government, industry, and academia. Finally, it predicts the next steps in Chinese biotechnology for the national agenda and, in view of China's ambitious global development strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative.

Chapter 1

Country and People

1.1 Geography

With 9.6 million km², China ranks number four among the world’s largest countries, behind the Russian Republic (17.1 million km²), Canada (9.9 million km²), and the USA (9.8 million km²). China’s national borders with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos, Bhutan, Myanmar, Russia, Mongolia, and North Korea extend over 22,000 km.

The Chinese mainland ranges from subarctic to tropical climate zones and extends over desert areas, high alpine zones, and steppes in the west and north (Fig. 1.1). The heartland in the east and south is characterized by mountainous regions and fertile lowlands along a mainland coastline of over 18,000 km.¹

China is crossed by the following three long rivers:

• 5464 km long Yellow River 黃河 has its source in Qinghai Province and flows into the Yellow Sea in Shandong Province.
• 6300 km long Yangtze River 長江 originates in Tibet and ends in the East China Sea near Shanghai. The course of the Yangtze River divides China’s north and south.
• 2320 km long Pearl River 珠江 with its tributaries drains China’s Southern provinces and enters the South China Sea in a huge delta near Hong Kong.

Figure 1.1 Geographic map of China. (Source: Wikimedia Commons, Author Alan Mak)

Nineteen out of China’s 34 administrative units are located along the river bank of either the Yellow or the Yangtze River. They provide fertile plains and good farmland and form the center of China’s agricultural production. The Yangtze is navigable for 2800 km, and much of China’s trade has developed in the cities along its banks, such as Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai. The Yellow River and the Yangtze River are connected by the 1794 km long Grand Canal (Jing-Hang Grand Canal 京杭大運河), an artificial waterway, which was built between Beijing and Hangzhou over 1500 years ago for the transport of goods and troops.

The estuary of the Pearl River forms an almost continuous urban landscape with a high level of industrial concentration. Though China extends over 60^o of longitude, there is only a single time zone for the whole country.

1.2 Resources

Out of China’s land mass of about 9.6 million km², there is²

• ~0.4 million km² of land used for human constructions,
• ~1.4 million km² of arable land,
• ~2.2 million km² of grass plots,
• ~2.5 million km² of forests,
• ~2.6 million km² of deserts, and
• ~1.7 million km² of land menaced by sand.

Besides its extensive resources in forests, agricultural land, and fresh water, China is rich in coal, oil, and natural gas. Its coal deposits alone are an estimated 12% of the proven global reserves. The country has also rich sources of iron ore, baryte, bauxite, and phosphates and extensive resources of rare earths, indium, tungsten, antimony, bismuth, mercury, graphite, tin, lead, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, and many other important minerals.

1.3 History

China’s heartland between the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, and the Pearl River has been shaped by a long prehistory and over 3000 years of recorded history. Recorded history has alternated between periods of political unity and peace and periods of war and failed leadership. Twice, during the Yuan and the Qing dynasties, China was ruled by people from the steppe, which were eventually assimilated into Han Chinese (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 Some key data of China’s history

~10,000 BCE		Neolithic findings
2700–1600 BCE	Xia dynasty	Early bronze age
1600–1046 BCE	Shang dynasty	Bronze age
1046–256 BCE	Zhou dynasty	Iron age
476–221 BCE	Warring States	Laozi, Confucius, Sun Tzu
221–207 BCE	Qin dynasty	Great wall, terracotta army
202 BCE–220 CE	Han dynasty	Art, culture, science
220–280	Three Kingdoms	Battle on the Red Cliff
266–420	Jin dynasty
420–589	Northern and Southern dynasties
581–618	Sui dynasty	Emperor’s canal
618–907	Tang dynasty	Cosmopolitan culture
907–1234	Five dynasties and Ten Kingdoms	A period of political disunity
960–1279	Northern and Southern Song dynasty	“Golden a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• About the Information Provided in This Book
• Abbreviation
• 1. Country and People
• 2. Government and Political Structure
• 3. Economy and Finance
• 4. Infrastructure
• 5. Higher Education and Research
• 6. Health Care and Biomedicine
• 7. Agriculture and Fermented Food
• 8. Industrial Biotechnology
• 9. Environmental Biotechnology and Sustainable Development Goals
• 10. Next Steps
• Index
• Picture Credits