在北京奥运会即将开幕之际，两大一流世界科学杂志——《自然》（Nature）和《科学》（Science）分别在7月24日和8月1日出版了中国专辑。《自然》以“中国的挑战”为题，而《科学》的主题则是“中国环境面临的挑战”。两家杂志不约而同地选择“挑战”并非巧合。的确，中国在向全球挑战的同时，也面临着挑战自我的问题。要而言之，中国要真正在经济、教育、科学技术和环境保护等方面跻身世界一流，就是要实现由量的增长到质的提高的根本转变。

China's Challenges

As the Olympics are to be staged in China later this week, two leading international science journals, “Nature” and “Science,” have devoted their recent issues – July 24 and Aug. 1 respectively – to Olympic host China. The former dubbed its cover story “China’s Challenges,” and the latter, “China’s Environmental Challenges.” It is no coincidence that both journals chose “challenges” as their theme.

Indeed, China poses challenges to the world. Its economy has been growing tremendously and unprecedentedly in the past 30 years, en route to becoming the world’s economic superpower in terms of its gross domestic product. It has already become the global center of manufacturing, producing everything from toys, apparel and sneakers to the most sophisticated gadgets such as notebook computers and iPhones.

China’s institutions of higher education have turned out more graduates than those in any other country, with the number of doctorates already overtaking the United States as the world’s number one. It has increased its spending in research and development, which in turn has translated to more scientific publications and more patents.

In a word, China’s records in terms of its economy, education, science and technology and other areas are as impressive as the “Bird’s Nest,” the “Water Cube,” and other Olympic venues where athletes from all over the world will be competing in the next two weeks.

However, at the same time it is challenging the world, China is facing many challenges of its own. For one thing, China’s challenges are costly. According to the editorial in “Science,” written by Bojie Fu, one of China’s leading environmental scientists, “Over the past 20 years, the total cost from environmental pollution and ecological deterioration is estimated to have been 7 to 20% of the annual gross domestic product (GDP).”

In other words, one percentage point, if not more, should be deducted from China’s staggering 10% GDP growth. The media coverage of China and the Olympics has shown and will continue to show the air quality problem, at the least.

Viewed from a broader perspective, China’s challenges are often rooted in pursuing quantity at the expense of quality. For example, despite a large number of college graduates, China still faces a shortage in terms of a qualified workforce, most severe at the high end, to lead the nation’s economic, scientific and social development.

Publications by China’s scientists have increased from merely 1,800 in 1981 to close to 100,000 in 2007. Yet the number of citations of Chinese papers – measured by the papers indexed by the Thompson ISI Web of Science, a measure of quality of the publications – is pathetically low.

Chinese enterprises have not even achieved much in manufacturing various goods, as many of them are still located at the low end of the global value chain.

Therefore, while China’s challenges to the world are real, China must really challenge itself if it hopes to become a world leader in terms of economy, education, science and technology, and environmental protection. The challenge lies in converting the emphasis on quantitative expansion to a focus on qualitative growth.

To use a sports analogy, China should give up the 100-meter dash mentality and develop a strategy of running a marathon where only endurance, consistency and patience will pay off in the long run.

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