China's booming economy has drawn both admiration and fear from the rest of the world. With its ability to churn out high-quality goods at low prices, China has become known as the “factory of the world”.To better understand China's development and modernisation since the 1978 reforms, it is necessary to analyse its policies on importing technologies and developing indigenous ones.The articles in this volume paint a comprehensive picture of the attempts by the Chinese government to adopt and foster science and technology, the successes of the policies and the continuing challenges.