“Tasks”versus“Disciplines”:The Comprehensive Surveys of Natural Resources by the Chinese Academy of Sciences,and the Politics of Science Policy in the People’s Republic of China

As soon as the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)was founded by the new government of the People’s Republic of China in 1949,the principles of“linking theory with practice”and“conducting research to serve the people”set the framework for its scientific studies.How to balance their obligations to facilitate national economic construction with their desires to advance disciplinary scientific developments posed a knotty problem that frustrated those who organized and engaged in scientific research across the country,and in the CAS in particular.Against this background,the slogan“let tasks lead disciplines”was proposed as an effective solution.However,how exactly to put this into practice became a pressing issue,as CAS scientists and scholars debated the relationship between tasks and advances within scientific disciplines.This paper examines these debates as they were carried out in the case of the comprehensive surveys of natural resources organized by the CAS,focusing especially on different understandings of the relationship between“tasks”and“disciplines”within the CAS in the early 1960s,and examining the impact and legacy of“letting tasks lead disciplinary developments,”with possible lessons for the formulation of scientific plans today.

Application of Traditional Chinese Medicine in medical practice：a survey of community residents in Beijing,China

OBJECTIVE:To investigate how community residents in Beijing understood and used Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) in their medical practice.METHODS:This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 3410 community residents from four large communities of Tongzhou district in Beijng,China.A validated, self-administered questionnaire comprised of three sections was used to gather the data.A systematic sampling procedure was applied to recruit the community residents.RESULTS:A total of 3410 participants completed the questionnaire survey.It showed that in highly educated residents, 33.4%(170) knew of the names of 3-10 Chinese herbals, 35.8%(182) knew of names of 3-10 traditional Chinese patent drug.Among all the respondent residents, 80.7%(2753)believed that TCM herbal therapy and TCM non-drug treatments were effective in disease treatment, health enhancement, 85.7%(2923) had taken traditional Chinese patent drug in their life,56.8%(1937) of residents had used herbal decoction, 40.0%(1365) had received non-drug treatment of TCM, such as acupuncture, massage, cupping, auricular acupuncture.Among the elderly residents, 11.4%(98) often used Chinese patent drug and 9.8%(85) often used herbal decoction.In addition, 70.8%(2415) of residents were willing to accept knowledge and information on TCM for health enhancement and disease prevention, such as medicated diet, medicinal tea, Tai Chi and Qi Gong, although 82.8%(2825) of residents had never used them.CONCLUSION:Chinese patent drug and herbal decoction are widely used in the communities in Beijing, and there existed a possible close correlation between high educational level and better understanding of TCM.Age and occupation also correlated with the attitude to TCM therapies.The characteristics of the residents should be considered seriously in the course of promoting the understanding and application of TCM.