Perspectives on space and time in US and chinese science

Abstract

In principle, scientific knowledge is universal, and the methods of science similarly pay no attention to national boundaries, languages, or cultures. In practice, of course, these assertions are far from true, and great differences exist in how science is conceived and practiced around the world. Nowhere is this more true than in comparing scientific practice in the US and in China. The emergence of China onto the international scientific stage is comparatively recent, following the years of the Cultural Revolution, the reopening of universities, and the very rapid growth of the Chinese economy of the past three decades.