Science popularization promoted, more private funding encouraged

Visitors look at a drone during the 2019 National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week in Beijing in June. (Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily)

The popularization of science in China is going through a positive transition phase in hopes of attracting more talent and diversified funding to produce higher-quality digital content.

The budget for promoting science to the general public last year was around 16.1 billion yuan ($2.3 billion), a 0.68 percent year-on-year increase. Government grants remain the largest financial contributor at 12.6 billion yuan, according to a 2018 survey by the Ministry of Science and Technology, published on Tuesday.

Last year, there were more than 76.3 million visits made, a 21 percent increase, to China's 518 general science museums, and over 142 million visits to the nation's 943 subject-specific museums, such as the Geological Museum of China and the Daqing Petroleum Science and Technology Museum.

"In recent years, the Chinese government and various research institutions have attached great significance to bringing science to the public," said Qiu Chengli, the survey's leader and a researcher on science popularization at the ministry.

Chinese scientists from selected institutions are now also more motivated to share their work with the public thanks to new reforms such as counting science popularization efforts in performance evaluations, establishing dedicated awards and granting senior titles for noted disseminators of science, he said.

"Elderly academicians and young scientists are some of the most active science disseminators, and this ensures works produced are both authoritative and interesting," Qiu said, adding that content in books and TV programs created by scientists were highly popular and some even had won national science awards in recent years.

However, Qiu also highlighted some problems this year, including a lack of private funding, uneven distribution of educational resources, a small decrease in the pool of science disseminators and the declining role of the print industry in science popularization as more people get their science information from online sources including via social media.

"Many of these problems are the result of recent institutional restructuring or existing limitations. We are currently going through a transitional phase because our science popularization efforts are heavily influenced by the country's overall economy and development," he said.

More spent in cities

In terms of accessibility to science education facilities, the survey showed that on average, there was one science education venue for every 955,100 Chinese people last year, while in developed countries the figure stands at around 500,000, Qiu said.

Each Chinese citizen on average spent about 4.45 yuan last year on science popularization. This budget was significantly higher in big cities like Beijing, whose inhabitants spent around 54.3 yuan, while residents from neighboring Hebei province spent only 1.19 yuan.

As for talent, the total number of full-time science disseminators－including teachers, professors, and other communicators of scientific knowledge and principles－was around 224,000 last year, a 1.34 percent year-on-year decrease. The number for part-timers was 1.56 million, 0.42 percent lower than in 2017.

"This small fluctuation in science disseminators is normal because many research institutions in China were undergoing reforms last year," Qiu said.

Despite the small dip in total numbers, the structure of the talent pool was further optimized with increased numbers of full-time content creators and museum guides, respectively reaching 15,500 and 32,900 last year, "though more are certainly welcome".

Online science popularization had seen the biggest growth, especially on social media platforms. Last year, microblogging platform Sina Weibo hosted 2,809 science education related accounts that sent more than 904,200 posts, with both figures up 36 percent year-on-year.

As for WeChat, the number of public accounts dedicated to sharing scientific information increased to 7,060, a year-on-year increase of 28.8 percent. Users posted around 1.08 million articles, a 15.3 percent year-on-year increase.

"Due to our changing reading habits, the internet is becoming the most popular channel for science information," Qiu said. As a result, the science popularization print industry took a huge hit last year, selling around 86 million books, a significant drop from 112 million in 2017.