In its annual National Economic and Social Development communiqué released on Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that eight Chinese satellites had been launched last year.
Expenditure on research and development (R&D) reached a new high, totaling 184.3 billion yuan (US$22.3 billion). This was up 19.7 percent on the year before and accounted for 1.35 percent of GDP.
Of this, 10.2 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) was used for pure science research. According to the government's Five-Year Plan for 2001-2005, R&D expenditure should constitute up to 1.5 percent of GDP.
According to the communiqué, the number of professionals and technicians working in state-owned enterprises and institutions stood at more than 27 million at the end of the year. "Professionals and technicians" refer to a specific grade of worker in China with key responsibilities. It includes doctors, editors and lawyers, but not general managers or administrators.
A total of 31,000 scientific research projects were completed at provincial or ministerial level and above. Some 350,000 patent applications were received from home and abroad, and 190,000 patents authorized, reflecting an increase on 2003.
By the end of last year, there were nearly 19,000 institutions involved in the inspection of manufactured goods, and 169 institutions in certifying product and system standards for 31,000 businesses.
There were 255 meteorological observatories with radar installations and 382 cloud mapping satellite stations.
(China.org.cn by Chen Lin, March 5, 2005)
