With the founding of the PRC in 1949 and the imitation of the Stalinist model, for the first time ever a Chinese government took direct responsibility for the development of technology and the natural sciences. In the wake of extensive Soviet support in the form of advisors, training, and equipment, the Soviet system of scientific and technological organization was adopted. This system clearly tended to centralize research at the academies instead of the universities and to focus on topics relevant to the military and the heavy industries. This was accompanied by…