In June 2002, China issued the Law of the People's Republic of China for Popularization of Science and Technology, stipulating an effort to popularize science and technology and improve the scientific knowledge of the general public. In early 2002, the China Association for Science and Technology and relevant departments adopted the Program for Increasing the Scientific Quality of the General Public, followed by a series of activities such as "Ten Thousand Books and Periodicals on Popular Science," "Ten Thousand Wall Charts on Popular Science," "Ten Thousand Lectures on Popular Science," "Ten Thousand Sessions of Advisory Services on Popular Science," and "Ten Thousand Popular Science Film and TV Shows." The "Science and Technology Week" activity in 2002 attracted more than 50 million person-times, being the largest-scale activity for the popularization of science participated in by the most persons. According to statistics, there are over 200 bases for popular science education and over 10,000 popular science galleries throughout the country. By 2002, China had built 425 science and technology museums. Some 7,000 or 8,000 popular science books were published each year. Arranged by a national program for the popularization of science, in 2003 over 50 academicians will give popular science lectures in 100 key colleges and universities in the country. According to an authoritative survey conducted by the China Association for Science and Technology using the international index system and method for testing the scientific quality of the public, in recent years the proportion of Chinese public with basic scientific quality has annually increased by 0.24 percentage point, from 0.2 percent in 1996 to 1.4 percent in 2001.
